I'lnSCKTO^.  N.  ./. 


No.  Cn.-<\     ^ 
No.  Shelf',    sgc 
No.  Book. 


Fhe  John  M.  Krebs  Donation. 


-  i 


\ 


I 


I 


TVic  LVte-y-oW-bT.      -^ 
ELEMENTS 


PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION 


L 


THE    REV.    J.   W.    BROOKS. 

VICAR  OF  CLAREBRO',  RETFORD. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
ORRIN  ROGERS,  67  SOUTH  SECOND  STREET. 

E.  G.  Dorsey,  rrioter. 

1841. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PACE 

On  the  Use  and  Importance  of  Prophecy,         ....  9 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Covenant  of  Promise,        --.-..  17 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Voice  of  the  Church, 31 

CHAPTER  IV. 
On  the  Interpretation  of  Prophecy,        -  -  -  -  -  83 

CHAPTER  V. 
On  the  Second  Advent  of  Christ,  -  -  -  -  -  118 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Kingdom  of  Christ, ■    -  133 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Judgment,  .-------  150 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Restoration  of  Israel,  and  the  New  Jerusalem  Dispensation,  180 

CHAPTER  IX. 
On  Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse,  .  _  .  -  .         219 


jy  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  X. 
On  Time  Mystically  Expressed,  .  ....         241 

CHAPTER  XL 
On  the  Antichrist,     '      -  -  -  -  -  -  -  254 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Ten  Kingdoms— the  Name  of  the  Beast— the  Two  Witnesses— 

the  Prophetical  Dates,         ------         302 


Appendix, 


REV.  EDWARD  BICKERSTETH, 


RECTOR  OF  WATTON,  HERTS. 


Dear  Christian  Friend, 

The  feelings  of  my  heart,  combined  with  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  prompt  me  to  inscribe  this  volume  to  you,  who  are 
instrumentally  the  cause  of  its  appearance,  and  to  whom  I  am 
indebted  for  many  suggestions  afforded  me  during  its  progress. 
I  may  indeed  truly  assert,  that  I  should  not  have  entered  on 
the  work  but  at  your  solicitation;  and  had  you  not  urged  on 
me  the  undertaking,  as  a  duty  which  I  owed  to  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Not  that  I  would  have  any  infer  from  this,  that  you 
fully  accord  with  all  that  the  book  contains:  for  though  I 
believe  that  we  have  been  led  into  the  same  views  in  the 
general,  and  I  trust  by  tho  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God;  yet 
am  I  bound  to  acknowledge  that  there  ^re  in  the  latter  chapters 
some  particulars,  concerning  which  you  either  differ-  or  are 
disposed  to  hesitate. 

In  regard  to  the  topics  of  the  two  latter  chapters,  I  would 
state  farther,  in  the  way  of  apology  for  their  appearance,  that 
had  I  not  been  in  a  measure  compelled  to  treat  of  them,  by  the 
course  which  was  previously  laid  down  for  me,  I  should  not 
have  entered  upon  them  at  all.  I  have  several  times,  in  the 
course  of  this  volume,  drawn  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the 
circumstance,  that  Prophecy  may  be  divided  into  two  principal 
portions;  viz.  that  which,  in  the  main,  is  delivered  in  plain  and 
literal  terms,  and  that  which  is  involved  in  symbols  and  mys- 
tical expressions.  As  regards  the  former  portion,  my  mind  is, 
in  the  general,  fully  persuaded;  and  as  I  consider  it  as  plain 

VOL.  II. — 1 


^/^  DEDICATION. 

to  be  understood,  and  as  susceptible  of  demonstration,  as  any- 
other  subject  of  divine  revelation,  so  I  have  not  hesitated  to 
treat  it  with  the  same  degree  of  confidence  and  decision  that 
I  should  discuss  the  doctrine  oi  justification.  In  regard,  how- 
ever, to  the  other  portion,  the  meaning  of  which,  independent 
of  its  application,  is  not  always  so  apparent,  I  confess  my  own 
mind  is  not  on  several  points  decidedly  made  up;  and  I  have 
therefore  felt  reluctant  to  commit  myself  on  topics,  which  I 
do  not  clearly  and  convincingly  see  my  way  in.  Much  injury 
has  been  done  to  the  cause  of  prophetical  interpretation  by 
writers  publishing  their  views  too  hastily;  insomuch  that  some 
have  no  sooner  caught  a  glimpse  of  what  they  have  imagined 
to  be  the  correct  meaning  of  a  passage,  than  they  have  imme- 
diately given  it  to  the  world,  and  have  almost  as  quickly  been 
led  to  recall  or  to  modify  their  statements.  I  have  seen,  how- 
ever, that  a  work  of  the  description  which  I  have  been  induced 
to  undertake  would  be  exceedingly  defective,  did  it  not 
comprehend  both  classes  of  Prophecy;  and  I  have  therefore 
resolved  at  least  to  prepare  for  the  student  such  infoi-mation 
concerning  the  latter  class  as  I  possessed,  or  was  within  my 
reach;  preferring  on  these  points  rather  to  assume  the  func- 
tions of  the  historian  than  of  the  expositor.  If  indeed  I  must 
speak  the  truth,  there  is  a  lamentable  want  among  professing 
Christians  of  ordinary  information  on  all  subjects  connected 
with  Prophecy;  the  consciousness  of  which  deters  many  from 
entering  seriously  upon  its  investigation;  and  it  has  conse- 
quently been  a  special  object  with  me  throughout,  that  the 
laborious  minister,  who  is  prevented  by  his  numerous  avoca- 
tions from  reading  many  works,  may  have  at  hand  something 
like  a  summary  of  the  history  of  prophetical  interpretation, 
together  with  the  principles  brought  into  view,  on  which  all 
prophetical  interpretation  should  proceed. 

It  is  almost  superfluous,  after  the  above  statement,  to  add, 
that  I  am  greatly  indebted  for  many  things,  both  in  the  way 
of  exposition  and  of  information,  to  the  writings  of  others.  If 
I  have  not  always  quoted  their  works  by  name,  it  has  been 
because  I  have  omitted  in  many  instances  to  take  extracts; 
and  my  recollection  sometimes  fails  to  supply  me  even  with 
the  name  of  the  author  to  whotn  I  stand  indebted.  I  have 
occasionally  also  been  obliged  to  take  authorities  at  second 
hand,  from  the  want  of  access,  in  a  country  town,  to  the  origi- 
nal authors:  though  I  trust  that  I  have  in  no  case  done  this 
where  the  matter  quoted  is  of  fundamental  importance  to  the 
argument  in  hand.  At  the  same  time,  however,  that  I  make 
these  acknowledgments,  I  feel  myself  equally  called  upon  to 
declare,  in  regard  to  the  first  class  of  prophecies  to  which  I 


DEDICATION. 


Vll 


have  alluded,  that  my  opinions  have  been  formed  almost 
entirely  upon  a  careful  and  independent  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

In  referrins;  to  the  works  of  contemporary  writers,  I  have 
occasionally  felt  it  a  duty  to  the  reader  to  speak  of  their  works, 
or  of  particular  points  in  their  works,  in  the  language  of  ani- 
madversion. But  I  nevertheless  most  freely  acknowledge, 
that  I  by  no  means  consider  myself  entitled  to  act  the  censor; 
and  there  is  scarcely  one  of  those,  whose  writings  may  fall 
under  observation,  to  whom  I  am  not  disposed  to  acknowledge 
my  inferiority. 

I  ought  likewise  to  apologize  for  some  inadvertencies  and 
repetitions  which  will  be  found  in  the  work.  These  must  be 
placed  to  the  account  of  the  large  demands  whicli  have  been 
made  upon  my  time  from  other  quarters  during  its  progress, 
and  which  have  frequently  not  only  distracted  my  attention, 
but  drawn  largely,  I  fear,  upon  your  patience  and  that  of  the 
much  respected  publisliers  of  the  work.  And  after  all,  my 
dear  friend,  I  cannot  but  feel,  that  you  have  entrusted  this 
important  work  to  very  feeble  hands;  and  that  the  reader  will 
not  only  speedily  discover  this,  but  marvel  that  you  have  not 
rather  undertaken  it  yourself.  Had  I  been  aware,  indeed, 
before  I  was  well  advanced  in  it,  that  your  "Practical  Remarks 
on  the  Prophecies"  would  have  been  so  greatly  enlarged  as  they 
liave  been  subsequently  in  your  "Practical  Guide/'  I  should 
altogether  have  declined  the  undertaking,  and  have  urged  you 
instead  to  have  still  more  largely  extended  that  publication; 
which  I  am  persuaded  would  have  been  far  more  acceptable 
and  instructive  to  the  religious  public,  than  any  thing  that  can 
be  advanced  by  me. 

Such,  however,  as  the  work  is,  I  now  send  it  forth  to  the 
Christian  Church,  humbly  thanking  our  blessed  Master  who 
has  enabled  me  to  bring  it  to  a  conclusion.  It  is  an  encouraging 
circumstance  to  me  to  know,  that  the  little  volume  publislied 
under  the  title  of  AbJieVs  Essays,  of  which  you  have  first 
betrayed  me  to  be  the  Author,  has  been  owned  of  the  Lord  in 
directing  serious  attention  to  the  solemn  truths  of  prophecy;* 
and  it  is  still  farther  encouraging  to  find  the  numbers  daily 
increasing  of  able  and  pious  ministers,  who,  from  your 
writings  and  those  of  others,  are  becoming  sensible  of  the 
duty  of  investigating  this  important  branch  of  Scripture,  and 
are  beginning  to  be  persuaded  of  the  pre-millennial  advent  of 
our  Lord.  I  earnestly  beseech  him  still  more  ai)undantly  to 
bless  our  mutual  labours,  to  the  setting  forth  of  his  glory,  and 

*  One  or  two«ections  of  the  above  mentioned  work  have  necessarily  been 
repeated,  with  some  alteraticjn,  in  this  volume. 


viii  DEDICATION. 

to  the  leading  many  of  his  children,  who  are  now  slumbering 
in  respect  to  his  approach,  to  arise  and  trim  their  lamps,  "and 
to  stand  with  their  loins  girt  and  their  lights  burning,  and 
tiiemselves  like  unto  men  that  wait  for  their  Lord,  when  he 
will  return  from  the  wedding;  that  when  he  cometh  and 
knocketh  they  may  open  unto  him  immediately.  Blessed 
are  those  servants  whom  the  Lord  when  he  cometh  shall  find 
watching!"     (Lukexii.) 

Believe  me  to  be,  my  dear  Christian  Friend  and  Brother  in 
the  Lord,  yours  affectionately  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  Christ's 
speedy  appearing, 

J.  W.  Brooks. 

Retford,  October,  1836. 


ON  PROPHECY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON  THE  USE  AND  IMPORTANCE  OF  PROPHECY. 

It  excites  a  painful  feeling  in  the  writer  of  this  volume, 
when  he  reflects,  that  circumstances  rentier  it  necessary,  that  a 
work  on  Prophecy,  intended  more  especially  for  the  use  of 
Christiati  readers,  needs  to  be  commenced  with  arguments  on 
the  importance  and  advantage  of  taking  heed  thereto.  One 
would  suppose  it  were  enough  for  any  who  acknowledge  the 
Bible  to  be  a  revelation  from  Jehovah,  merely  to  remind 
them  of  tlie  Apostle's  declaration — "All  Scripture  is  profita- 
ble;" and  that  then,  without  caring  for  the  obloquy  cast  upon 
the  study,  and  the  seeming  obscui'ity  in  which  prophecy  is 
involved,  they  would,  like  JNIary,  "diligently  keep"  all  these 
sayings  of  the  Spirit,  ''and  ponder  them  in  their  hearts."  Such, 
however,  is  the  prejudice  and  misapprehension  which  Satan 
has  contrived  to  raise  up  against  this  portion  of  the  word  of 
God,  that,  like  those  who  in  the  early  ages  pleaded  for  Chris- 
tianity itself,  we  must  no,w  adopt  the  tone  and  language  of 
apologists. 

1.  It  must  surely  be  regarded  as  a  most  alarming  symptom, 
connected  with  the  signs  of  these  alarming  times,  tiiat  profes- 
sors of  serious  religion  should  rccpiire  to  have  the  practical  use 
of  any  portion  of  Scripture  demonstrated  to  tliem,  before 
they  will  give  it  serious  attention;  if  they  will  even  do  it  then. 
For  is  it  not  affronting  to  the  Deity  to  suppose,  that  he  would 
reveal  any  thing  to  his  church  not  calculated  to  edify  it,  or 
which  individual  members  of  it  may  wilfully  neglect,  without 
serious  detriment  to  their  souls?  Let  us  only  imagine,  that 
the  Lord  were  now  personally  to  manifest  himself  in  an  assem- 
bly of  Christians,  and  were  to  converse  with  them  on  those 
things  revealed  in  the  prophets:  should  we  not  be  inclined  to 
conclude  of  that  man,  who  should  make  light  of  his  discourse 
1* 


10      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

because  he  got  upon  the  subject  of  prophecy, — or  who  should 
even  betray,  by  indifference  or  inattention,  that  he  took  not  a 
lively  interest  in  it, — that  he  was  an  tinbeliever,  and  had  not 
had  the  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  his  heart  by  that  Holy 
Ghost  who  spake  by  the  prophets?  Now  we  might,  possibly,  be 
wrong  in  concluding  to  so  great  an  extent  as  this;  for  marvel- 
lous indeed  is  the  power  of  prejudice  even  in  good  men:  but 
we  could  not  avoid  concluding  of  such  a  one,  that  he  was 
under  the  influence  of  some  strange  delusion,  and  was  ob- 
noxious to  the  rebuke  of  being  "s/oro  of  heart  to  believe  all 
that  the  prophets  have  spoken."  The  application  must  be 
obvious,  to  those  at  least  who  acknowledge  the  7vritte?i  word  to 
be  equally  the  word  of  God,  as  if  he  were  now  visible  on  earth 
declaring  it.* 

2.  It  may,  however,  be  probably  objected  by  some,  that 
they  do  not  question  the  authority  and  profitableness  of  all 
Scripture  in  the  general;  but  they  conceive  prophecy  to  be 
comparatively  of  less  importance  and  less  profitable  than  other 
doctrines,  which  they  therefore  deem  it  better  chiefly  to 
regard.  From  the  present  circumstances  of  the  church  of 
Christ,  there  is  a  something  which  appears  plausible  in  this 
objection;  but  it  will  be  found,  nevertheless,  upon  examina- 
tion, opposed  to  that  practical  deference  and  subjection  to  the 
word  of  God,  which  the  believer  must  avow  it  to  be  his  duty 
to  yield,  and  therefore  mischievous  in  principle.  Those  who 
have  any  experimental  acquaintance  with  divine  things  must 
be  aw^are  how  impossible  it  is,  in  the  first  place,  for  any  man 
to  judge  of  the  practical  tendency  of  a  doctrine,  until  he  has 
first  heartily  embraced  it,  or  experienced  somewhat  of  its 
power.  Till  then,  he  either  regards  it  with  Indifference,  or  is 
decidedly  opposed  to  it,  as  dangerous  and  liable  to  abuse. 
ISIany  conceive  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  without 
the  preferable  course  is  to  keep  it  in  the  back  ground,  and 
the  works  of  the  law  to  be  unfavourable  to  holiness,  and  that 
to  insist  on  moral  duties.  Many  imagine  further,  that  to 
preach  the  need  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  aid,  for  every  good 
thought,  and  word,  and  work,  is  calculated  to  paralyze  human 

*  As  a  proof  that  we  might  be  wrong  in  concluding  altogether  against  the 
piety  of  Mich,  note  the  prejudice  and  unbelief  exhibited  in  regard  to  truths  of 
fundamental  importance,  by  men  whose  election  of  God  we  cannot  question. 
The  necessity  for  the  death  of  Jesus  was  not  understood  by  any  of  his  disciples 
before  the  event;  and  Peter  in  particular,  is  rebuked,  as  speaking  after  Satan, 
and  not  of  God,  in  this  matter  (Matt.  xiv.  23).  Thomas  was  wonderfully 
sceptical,  in  regard  to  the  resurrection  from  the  dead.  All  the  di.sciples,  even 
after  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  were  prejudiced  in  .some  measure  against 
the  calling  of  the  Gentiles;  whilst  numbers  of  sincere  persons  had  their  minds 
warped  in  regard  to  the  important  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  These 
things  ought  at  least  to  make  us  slow  to  judge  our  brethren. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      jj 

exertion,  and  to  weaken  the  motives  to  personal  diligence. 
And  how  much  greater  a  number  cannot  conceive  of  the 
doctrine  of  electioti,  "that  it  doth,  in  godly  persons,  greatly 
establisli  and  confirm  the  faith  of  eternal  salvation,  and  fer- 
vently kindle  their  love  towards  God,"*  To  admit  the  pro- 
priety, therefore,  of  ministers  judging  for  themselves  what  is 
comparatively  important  in  the  case  of  prophecy,  is  to  admit  the 
principle  in  every  other  case;  whereas  numbers  of  those  who 
have  been  disposed  to  think  this  in  regard  to  prophecy,  would 
contend,  in  the  instances  just  enumerated,  that  it  is  a  minister's 
duty  "to  declare  the  ichole  coimsel  of  God." 

There  are  circumstances,  however,  which  appear  not  only 
to  render  the  question  of  the  practical  utility  and  comparative 
importance  of  prophecy  in  a  measure  capable  of  demonstration; 
but  which  even  seem  to  bespeak  its  s///?e/"/or  importance.  First, 
may  be  instanced,  the  comparative  hulk  of  the  prophetic  scrip- 
tures: for  if  we  regard  tlie  number  of  books  directly  propheti- 
cal, together  with  the  copious  prophetical  passages  in  other 
books,  especially  the  Psalms,  the  declared  typical  character  of 
much  scripture  history,  (1  Cor.  x.  II.)  of  the  ceremonial  law, 
of  the  tabernacle  service,  (Epistle  to  Hebrews,  passim,)  all 
which,  as  they  were  adumbrations  of  things  to  come,  partook  of 
a  prophetical  complexion;  the  natural  and  unprejudiced  con- 
clusion would  be,  that  the  subject  is  of  very  great  importance. 
Secondly,  we  may  notice,  tliat  as  the  prophets,  under  the 
Mosaical  dispensation,  interwove  with  their  instructions  con- 
tinual warnings  and  admonitions  of  future  events;  so,  under 
the  New  Testamet  dispensation,  the  incidental  reference  to  the 
future  is  of  continual  occurrence;  and  there  is  really  no  doc- 
trine in  the  New  Testament  supported  by  so  many  indepen- 
dent passages  practically  applying  it,  as  may  be  adduced  from 
the  gospels  and  epistles  in  behalf  of  those  views,  which  form 
the  great  sum  and  substance  of  prophetical  truth;t  and  perhaps 
there  is  no  better  mode  of  estimating  the  practical  tendency  of 
a  doctrine,  than  by  a  reference  to  the  frequency  with  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  has  himself  jiractically  applied  it.  Intimately 
connected  with  this  latter  circumstance  is  the  manner  in  vvhich 
we  find,  from  the  scriptures,  the  church  has  actually  been  sus- 
tained, in  the  midst  of  fiery  trials,  by  the  hope  derived  from 
prophecy:  which  is  indeed  one  very  important  use  and  intent 
of  it.  For  example:  the  whole  cloud  of  witnesses,  mentioned 
in  Heb.  xi.,  who  at  various  periods  bore  testimony  to  the 
truth,  loere  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance,  that  they   might 

*  See  Article  xvii.  of  the  Church  of  England. 

t  See  this  poiat  proved  at  large,  with  the  practical  proofs  adduced,  in  the 
Investigator,  or  Monthly  E.xposiior  on  Prophecy,  vol.  i.  pages  21,  07,  and  237, 


12   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

obtain  a  better  resurrection;  which  hope  both  animated  and  sup- 
ported them,  (Heb.  xi.  10,  14,  IG,  39.)  And  the  hope  derived 
from  prophecy  of  things  to  come  sustained  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, and  likewise  the  Refc^-mers,  in  some  of  their  severest 
trials  both  of  body  and  mind. 

3.  But  there  is  another  plausible  objection  must  now  be 
met.  For  it  is  by  some  conceded,  that  fulfilled  prophecy  may 
be  useful:  it  is  Bfrt  only  unfulfdled  prophecy  they  consider 
dangerous,  and  its  study  to  be  consequently  avoided.  The 
intelligent  reader  will  at  once  perceive,  that  even  this  dogma 
would  still  divert  us  from  the  cordial  reception  and  serious 
consideration  of  s. portion  of  God's  word:  but  not  only  so,  it 
betrays  a  great  want  of  acquaintance  witli  the  intent  and  use 
of  prophecy.  For  the  believer  derives  but  little  advantage 
ivom  fiilfdled  prophecy,  so  far  as  he  is  himself  personalli/  con- 
cerned. Its  chief  use  to  him  is  a  weapon  agqinst  the  infidel 
and  sceptic:  and  it  has  proved  mighty  in  this  respect  (particu- 
larly of  late  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Keith*)  as  an  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity.  The  believer  wants  not  this  evidence 
to  convince  him:  it  will  afford  him,  indeed,  an  exalted  notion 
of  the  prescience  of  that  God  whom  he  already  adores;  and 
it  is  further  useful  to  assist  him  to  a  right  apprehension  of  that 
which  is  z/?j-fullilled,  and  to  increase  his  confidence  in  its  accom- 
plishment; but  he  is  more  concerned  to  keej)  his  eye  continu- 
ally fixed  upon  the  latter,  on  the  i-ight  understanding  of  which 
does  the  correctness  of  his  views  in  regard  to  the  expectations 
and  destinies  of  the  church  entirely  depend.  Thus  the  apos- 
tles appealed  continually  to  the  fulfilled  prophecies,  to  con- 
vince those  who  were  not  persuaded  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ; 
but  the  attention  of  believers  in  him  is  constantly  directed  to 
the  hope  of  his  coming  again  in  glory,  and  to  the  circum- 
stances which  are  to  precede  and  accompany  that  event. 

But  let  us  suppose  an  ingenuous  inquirer  were  induced  im- 
plicitly to  adopt  the  notion,  that  it  were  unsafe  to  give  heed 
to  other  than  fulfilled  prophecy;  in  what  perplexity  would  he 
find  himself  immediately  involved!  For  how  is  he,  in  the 
first  place,  to  ascertain  what  is  fulfilled  and  what  unfulfilled, 
without  studying  bolhPt  Propliecies  containing  warnings 
must,  according  to  this  system,  not  be  studiously  considered 
until  the  danger  be  overpast  in  regard  to  which  the  warning  is 
given;  whereby  the  purport  and  use  of  such  prophecies  would 
be  manifestly  frustrated.     And  unless  the  mind  were  become 

•  See  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  by  the  Rev.  A.  Keith. 

t  The  absurdity  is  the  more  apparent  in  the  present  day,  when  a  rare  of 
interpreters  is  springing?  up,  (as  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitiand,  the  Rev.  \V.  Biir^Wi, 
&c.)  who  ar;,Mie  of  many  large  portions  of  prophecy,  supposed  bv  the  majority 
of  commcntalors  to  be  fulfilledj  that  they  are  yet  unaecomplishcd. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       13 

familiar  with  them,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  recognise  the 
events  as  the  accomplishment  of  prophecy  when  they  did  come 
to  pass:  the  want  of  which  familiarity  with  their  prophets 
prevented  the  Jews,  during  our  Lord's  ministry  on  earth, 
from  perceiving  and  understanding  the  peculiar  signs  of  their 
own  times,  and  exposed  them  to  the  severe  rebuke  and  awful 
charge  of  hypockisy!*  ^Many,  indeed,  who  allow  that  it  is 
proper  to  study  fulfilled  propiiecy,  do  not  intend  to  go  the  full 
extent  of  the  admission  they  make:  viz.  they  do  not  approve 
of  making  the  application  of  it  to  their  oxvn  times,  even  though 
the  things  predicted  be  accomplishing  before  their  eyes.  They 
have  no  objection  to  consider  prophecies  which  they  presume 
to  have  been  accomplished  some  two  or  three  centuries,  or 
two  or  three  thousand  years  back;  but  when  they  come 
to  be  urged  with  those  things  that  apparently  belong  to  the 
age  in  which  we  live,  they  deprecate  the  presumption  of  such 
a  use  of  prophecy  as  warmly,  as  if  some  one  had  aflected  to 
offer  them  an  oracular  interpretation  of  what  was  unfulfilled. 

Various  other  instances,  which  illustrate  the  duty  and  the 
practical  advantages  of  taking  heed  to  unfuliilled  propiiecy, 
will  come  before  us  in  tbe  course  of  this  volume:  one  or  two, 
however,  of  a  remarkable  and  decisive  character,  may  in  this 
place  be  brought  forward.  The  first  is  contained  in  Jeremiah 
xxvii.  wherein  is  a  prophecy  concerning  the  dominion  and 
greatness  given  for  a  time  to  the  king  of  Babylon;  insomuch 
that  all  nations  should  serve  him  and  his  son's  son;  after 
which  he  should  suffer  a  reverse,  and  all  nations  should  serve 
themselves  of  him.  Now,  on  the  conviction  from  the  inspired 
word,  that  only  those  nations  should  enjoy  quiet  who  would  at 
once  peaceably  submit  to  the  yoke  of  the  king  of  Babylon, 
the  prophet  exhorts  his  countrymen  at  once  to  go  and  be  sub- 
ject to  him,  warning  them  of  the  fatal  consequences  if  they 
should  rather  listen  to  those  who  prophesied  peace.  This  'was 
unfulfilled  prophecy:  and  can  we  conceive  it  possible  for  a  prac- 
tical application  of  scripture  to  be  more  bold,  and  at  the  same 
time  more  unpalatable,  than  that  made  by  Jeremiah?  Was  it 
not  calculated  to  expose  him  to  the  reproach  of  being  an  indis- 
creet and  unsober  visionary,  alarmist  and  fanatic?  was  not  its 
tendency  such  as  might  plausibly  be  questioned  by  worldly 

♦  Why  of  hypocrisy?  It  would  be  well  if  all  religions  professors  would 
seriously  consider  what  appears  to  be  the  ground  of  this  charge.  They  were 
persons /Jro/eisifl"^  godliness  to  M'honi  it  was  spoken.  Now  they  did  lake  so 
much  interest  in  worldly  matters,  as  to  think  it  worth  their  while  to  notice  the 
signs  of  the  heavens,  and  to  judge  from  them  what  sort  of  weather  was 
likely  to  follow;  but  though  affecting  to  esteem  heavenly  things  of  far  more 
importance,  theyl)elrayed,  by  the  very  circumstance  of  neglecting  prophecy^  that 
they  were  not  really  in  earnest  about  them.     See  Matt.  xvi.  3. 


14   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

men,  and  suited  to  bring  on  the  propliet  (as  indeed  it  did)  the 
suspicion  of  being  a  traitor  in  the  pay  of  the  king  of  Babylon? 
What  instance  can  be  pointed  to  in  modern  times,  even  among 
abuses  of  the  study,  (which  have  undoubtedly  occurred),  more 
fitted  to  prejudice  men  against  prophecy  than  this?  Yet  where 
can  we  turn  for  a  more  decided  proof  of  the  peril  of  those  who 
despise  or  disparage  unfulfilled  prophecy. 

The  above  instance  is  taken  from  the  more  literal  prophe- 
cies; the  next  shall  be  from  those  which,  b}'^  the  generality  of 
commentators,  are  declared  to  bevelled  in  symbol  or  allegory; 
of  which  the  most  prominent  and  copious  is  the  Apocalypse  of 
St.  John.  Could  it  be  lawful  in  any  instance  to  neglect  pro- 
phecy, we  should  surely  find  some  intimations  of  it  in  connec- 
tion with  such  a  book  as  this.  We  might  expect  to  find  it 
open  with  a  warning  of  the  danger  of  misappreiiending  or  mis- 
applying it,  or  even  of  meddling  with  it  at  all  until  fulfilled. 
But  instead  of  this  we  have,  at  its  opening,  first,  an  express 
encouragement  for  minislers  to  bring  it  before  their  people; 
{blessed  is  he  that  readeth) — secondly,  a  blessing  pronounced 
also  on  those  who  attejid  io  him  when  he  does  so;  {and  they 
that  HEAR  the  words  of  this  prophecy) — thirdly,  a  blessing  on  the 
devout  bearing  it  in  mind,  {a?id  that  keep  those  things zchich  are 
written  therein,)  (Rev.  i.  3.)  And  the  book  concludes  by  de- 
claring that  he  is  accursed  who  keeps  this  prophecy,  or  any 
part  of  it,  back:  for  such  is  the  scope  of  the  words — "If  any 
man  shall  take  away  from  the  icords  of  the  book  of  this  pro- 
phecy, God  shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life, 
and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the  things  which  are  writ- 
ten in  this  book,"  (Rev.  xxii.  19.)  How  different  is  this  from 
the  admonitions  of  the  danger  of  looking  at  prophecy,  put  forth 
so  frequently  in  an  authoritative  tone,  by  those  who  ought 
rather  diligently  to  exhort  their  hearers  "to  hearken  to  it,  and 
to  keep  the  words,"  &c.  Where  do  we  meet  with  one  single 
warning  of  the  kind  in  Scripture?  Had  it  been  needful  to 
have  clogged  the  subject  with  such  restrictions,  doubtless  the 
Holy  Spirit  would  have  done  it,  and  not  have  left  it  to  fallible 
human  beings,  who  are  commonly  the  victims,  more  or  less, 
of  prejudice,  to  prescribe  to  us  what  portions  of  God's  word 
are  profitable,  and  what  are  not.  On  the  contrary,  we  have 
seen  declared  the  blessedness  of  those  who  take  heed  to  pro- 
phecy, and  the  hypocrisy  and  danger  of  those  who  may 
neglect  it. 

4.  The  same  may  be  said  concerning  the  requirements  for 
the  study  of  prophecy,  which  are  so  often  insisted  on.  Such 
learning,  such  reading,  and  such  various  qualifications  and 
endowments  of  mind  and  spirit,  are  prescribed,  as  to  make 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   ^5 

modest  men  (the  men  least  in  danger)  shrink  back  from  the 
study  in  despair.  Thus  it  is  to  many  believers  absohitely  shut 
up;  wliilst  tlie  persons  wlio  bind  tlicsc  heavy  burdens  on 
others,  arc  not  in  general  laborious  and  diligent  inquirers 
themselves:  on  the  contrary,  they  neither  enter  on  the  study, 
nor  suffer  them  to  enter  that  are  disposed.  It  is  freely  admit- 
ted, that  some  students  of  prophecy  have  betrayed  great  inso- 
briety, dogmatism,  and  the  like.  It  is  evident  also  that  Daniel 
and  St.  John,  who  enjoyed  such  remarkable  revelations, 
were  men  much  in  the  Spirit  and  in  communion  with 
God;  men  professing  much  love  and  lowliness  of  mind,  and 
who  sought  the  Lord  in  this  matter  by  prayer  and  fasting. 
These  are  the  requisites  to  be  brought  to  the  study;  but  they 
are  requisites  within  the  attainment  of  all  who  believe  in  the 
power  and  promises  of  God,  and  the  riches  of  the  fulness  of 
the  grace  of  Christ;  and  they  are  requisites  equally  needed  for 
the  study  or  perusal  of  every  part  of  God's  word,  if  only  our 
desire  is  to  profit  by  it.  As  much  dogmatism  and  extrava- 
gance is  to  be  met  with  in  the  setting  forth  what  are  called 
the  doctrines  oi  grace,  especially  of  clecliov,  as  can  possibly  be 
complained  of  in  regard  io  prophecy;  but  we  do  not  find  those, 
wdio  object  against  prophecy  on  tliis  account,  warn  us  on  the 
same  ground  against  the  other  doctrines. 

Neither  must  it  be  concluded,  that  the  truth  may  not  be  with 
men,  because  they  do  not  come  up  to  our  notions  of  a  be- 
coming temper  or  spirituality  of  mind:  for  this  were  to  make 
the  measure  of  piety,  or  the  Christian  attainments  of  men,  the 
criterion  of  the  things  they  teach,  instead  of  testing  them  by 
the  scriptures  of  God;  and  it  would  set  us  upon  judging  and 
surmising  concerning  each  other;  when  we  ougiU  rather  to  be 
inquiring,  what  is  written.  God  has,  undoubtedly,  spoken  im- 
portant truths  by  the  moutbs  of  men  whom  we  consider  desti- 
tute of  grace,  as  Balaam  and  Caiaphas;  and  by  men  of  weak 
faith  also  and  ungracious  temper,  as  Jonah:  and  why  may  not 
like-minded  persons  be  even  now  made  the  instruments  of 
throwing  light  upon  his  word? 

If  the  reader  of  these  remarks  happen  to  be  a  minister  of 
the  word  of  God,  he  is  affectionately  entreated  to  consider  his 
responsibility;  how  he  is  bound,  as  a  faithful  minister,  to 
deliver  the  zchole  counsel  of  God;  and  especially,  in  regard  to 
the  Apocalypse,  not  to  take  away  from  or  add  to  it,  (Rev.  xxii. 
18.)  And  is  it  not  to  'Hake  away  from  the  words  of  this  pro- 
phecy," yea,  to  take  away  all  the  words  of  it,  when  ministers 
systematically  abstain  from  bringing  forward  its  contents?  An 
idea  prevails  vyith  some  who  do  not  deprecate  prophetical  in- 
vestigation in  the  abstract,  that  it  is  suited  only  for  i\\Q  private 


1(5      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

study  of  ministers,  and  that  it  were  improper  to  make  it,  in  its 
regular  turn  with  other  scripture,  the  subject  of  their  pulpit 
expositions.  Now  it  is  certainly  not  for  men,  before  they 
have  arrived  at  some  conviction  in  regard  to  prophetic  truth,  to 
utter  their  crudities  before  the  church;  but  the  Lord  neverthe- 
less commands  "that  every  scribe  instructed  unto  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  should  bring  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new 
and  old:"  (Matt,  xxiii.  52.)  and  this  is  said  with  respect  to 
subjects  decidedly  of  a  prophetical  character;  as  may  be  seen 
by  the  context.  So  again,  what  ministers  have  been  been  told 
in  darkness,  they  are  to  speak  in  light;  and  what  they  hear  in 
the  ear,  they  are  to  preach  upon  the  housetops,  (Matt.  x.  27.) 
It  is  a  leaven  of  popery  to  suppose  that  any  class  of  men  are, 
by  the  mere  circumstances  of  birth,  rank,  wealth,  office  or 
education,  privileged  to  monopolize  any  portion  of  the  word 
of  God. 

It  must  be  admitted,  therefore,  that  that  system  which  de- 
prives prophecy  of  the  degree  of  importance,  (whatsoever  it 
may  be,)  which  the  scriptures  assign  to  it,  must  be  so  far 
wrong:  and  whatsoever  is  wrong  in  doctrine  must  be,  to  that 
extent,  mischievous  in  practice,  however  plausible.  It  may 
be  that  individuals  are,  notwithstanding,  saved;  but  its  perni- 
cious effects  upon  the  generality  of  hearers,  and  to  a  great 
degree  upon  those  who  pre  in  the  main  believers,  is  incalcula- 
ble. Faith  is,  in  a  measure,  deprived  of  its  food;  though 
faith,  it  is  true,  regards  the  past  and  present  as  well  as  the 
future,  (Heb.  xi.  1,  3:)  but  hope  never  can  be  called  into 
action  but  by  the  consideration  of  things  future;  and  it  there- 
fore ceases  to  be  an  active  principle  in  the  heart,  so  soon  as 
futurity  is  withdrawn  from  its  contemplation.  Who  can  say, 
for  example,  how  far  that  lukcu-armness,  which  is  admitted  to 
exist  among  professors  of  the  present  day,  may  not  be  owing, 
in  a  great  degree,  to  the  want  of  realizing  belief  and  hope  in 
the  testimony  of  God  concerning  the  impending  advent  of  the 
Lord  Jesus — the  morning  star  and  great  sun  of  prophecy? 
For  the  passions  and  affections  will  necessarily  be  languid,  if 
they  be  moved  at  all,  by  hare  assent  to  a  thing,  even  though 
the  thing  itself  be  of  the  greatest  moment;  whereas  a  full  per- 
suasion of  the  reality  of  an  interesting  object,  excites  the  most 
lively  and  vigorous  emotions.  Those  writers  or  preachers 
who  put  off  the  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  a  remote  period, 
do  at  least  speak  directly  contrary  to  the  scope  and  tenor  of 
the  New  Testament,  which  every  where  keeps  it  in  view.* 
Their  arguments  for  so  doing,  if  good  for  anything,  will  be 
good  until  doomsday  itself  arrive;  and  the  Church,  according 
*  See,  OQ  this  point,  the  Invcdigalor  on  Prophecy,  vol.  i.  p.  18. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPflETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       17 

to  them,  will  be  as  wrong  in  taking  up  this  hope  and  expecta- 
tion eagerly  on  the  very  evening  before  the  actual  event  itself, 
as  it  is  ?70w!  Such  arguments  do  indeed  lead  men  to  cry, 
♦'Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming?"  (2  Pet.  iii.  4,)  and 
therefore  their  tendency  is  to  expose  them  to  the  perdition  of 
the  ungodly. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  signs  of  the  times  in  which  we  live, 
cry  to  us  with  the  voice  of  a  trumpet  to  be  ready  ourselves, 
and  to  warn  our  hearers  likewise.  Satan  has  had  no  small 
hand  in  raising  up  the  existing  prejudice  and  indifierence  in 
regard  to  prophecy.  He  well  knows  its  practical  tendency,  if 
zee  do  not:  He  can  tell  that  his  time  is  but  short,  even  if  Chris- 
tians will  not  be  "wise  to  know  the  times  and  seasons:" — and 
therefore  to  divert  us  from  the  consideration  thereof,  trans- 
formed into  an  angel  of  light  he  urges  men,  on  the  one  hand, 
to  some  extravagance  calculated  to  bring  odium  on  the  hope  of 
the  Lord's  appearing;  or  he  presents  to  them,  on  the  other 
hand,  some  unscriptural  conceit,  which  deadens  or  paralyzes 
the  mind  in  regard  to  it,  so  that  they  practically  neglect  it 
altogether.  The  great  water  floods  are  evidently  arising  and 
increasing  fast  upon  us;  and  the  Church  is  rapidly  passing  into 
the  dark  and  cloudy  day  of  tribulation.  In  the  opinion  of  all 
thinking  and  intelligent  men,  some  awful  and  portentous  crisis 
is  at  hand;  and  how  is  the  true  Church  to  be  comforted  in  the 
midst  of  it,  or  guided  through  it,  but  by  taking  heed  to  the 
more  sure  word  of  prophecv;  which  is  specially  a  light  in- 
tended for  a  dark  time,  until  the  day  dawn  and  the  day  star 
arise  in  our  hearts.*  ''The  lion  hath  roared:  who  rcill  not  fear? 
—  The  Loud  God  hath  spoken:  who  can  but  prophecy?"  Amos 
iii.  S. 


CHAPTER  IL 

THE   COVENANT  OF  PROMISE. 

The  chief  object  of  all  prophecy  appears  to  be  to  prepare 
the  Church  for  the  advent  of  Messiah;  the  manifestation  of 
whose  salvation  and  kingdom  and  glory,  together  with  the 
various  circumstances  immediately  connected  with  these  mat- 

*'2  Peter  i.  19.  TJie  context  shows  that  Peter  had  in  his  mind  the  "fiery 
trial,"  which  is  what  I  apprehend  him  to  mean  by  the  dark  lime.  2  Peter  iii. 
b  and  12. 

VOL.  II. — 3 


jg      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

ters,  are  the  most  prominent  features  of  the  prophetic  page. 
Unless,  therefore,  we  have  in  the  outset  a  right  apprehension 
of  them,  it  is  most  probable  that  we  shall  fail  to  adopt  correct 
principles  of  interpreting  the  prophecies  which  concern  them. 
In  order,  however,  to  arrive  at  a  proper  apprehension  of  these 
things,  it  will  be  useful  just  to  glance  at  the  history  of  man's 
apostacy. 

By  permitting  man  to  fall  at  various  periods  into  a  state  of 
disobedience  and  rebellion,  and  to  experience  the  misery  and 
darkness  consequent  on  sucli  a  state,  the  Lord  would  apparently 
teach  every  order  of  intelligent  beings, — the  thrones  and  prin- 
cipalities and  powers  in  heavenly  places,  as  well  as  the  whole 
human  race, — that  the  strength  of  the  creature,  both  moral 
and  intellectual,  is  derived  immediately  from  the  Creator;  and 
that  the  creature,  therefore,  cannot  stand  for  one  single  mo- 
ment upright,  but  through  the  power  of  Almighty  God.  No 
natural  or  local  circumstances,  however  advantageous, — no 
external  means  of  grace,  however  imposing, — no  inward  ta- 
lents or  endowments,  however  dazzling,  will  avail  of  them- 
selves to  keep  the  creature  erect,  if  he  trust  to  them:  he  must 
look  up  throughout  to  God;  he  must  learn  that  he  is  sustained 
in  all  respects  by  Him;  he  must  know  that  "in  Him  he  lives, 
and  moves,  and  has  his  being;"  or  he  will  certainly  apos- 
tatize. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  condition  of  the  a?igels  who  left  their 
first  estate  and  fell,  how  various  have  been  the  trials  vouch- 
safed to  ma?!.  He  has  been  placed  in  a  condition  of  nobility 
and  innocence,  and  has  fallen!  He  has  witnessed  the  terrors 
of  Mount  Sinai  and  the  glory  of  the  Shecinah,  and  had  the 
Lord  speaking  to  him  daily  by  his  Spirit  in  his  prophets,  and 
has  fallen!  He  has  been  now  for  nearly  two  thousand  years 
under  a  dispensation,  which  was  ushered  in  with  the  most 
striking  spiritual  gifts  and  endowments,  and  yet  he  has  been 
continually  apostatizing;  insomuch  that  we  cannot  place  our 
finger  on  one  single  spot  on  the  globe,  where  we  are  assured 
Christianity  was  enjoyed  during  the  first  three  centuries  in  its 
purity,  without  perceiving  at  the  same  time  the  most  lamenta- 
ble historical  proof  connected  with  it,  that  man  has  fallen:  and 
the  prophetical  account  of  the  close  of  this  dispensation  shows, 
that,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  small  remnant — an  election 
upheld  by  grace — this  fall  will  become  universal  and  most 
signal!  Man  is  further  destined,  in  the  dispensation  which  is 
approaching,  to  enjoy  a  combination  of  all  the  advantages 
hitherto  experienced  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  to- 
gether with  an  unparalleled  degree  of  splendour,  power,  and 
prosperity;  and  we  know  that  he  is  also  destined  in  the  end 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       jg 

to  fall!  And  then  only  will  that  great  moral  lesson  be  com- 
pleted, which  the  Lord  is  thus  practically,  through  every  age, 
teaching  to  his  creatures;  that  they  may  know  throughout  the 
eternity  that  remains,  that  God  is  all  in  all. 

Another  great  and  important  matter  has  however  been  gra- 
dually unfolding,  parallel  with  the  development  of  the  apostacy 
of  the  creature;  and  that  is  the  great  plan  oi  redemption  through 
the  Messiah,  and  of  the  ultimate  restoration  of  man,  and  of  the 
world  from  all  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  curse.  If  the  earth 
has  been  filled  ever  since  the  fall  with  violence,  and  deceit, 
and  misery,  arising  from  tlie  influence  of  those  unrighteous 
principles  which  the  darkened  mind  of  man  has  supposed  to 
conduct  to  personal  happiness;  the  word  of  prophecy  has  held 
out  to  the  expectation  of  those,  who  have  been  brought  to  un- 
derstand the  cause  of  their  misery,  not  only  a  way  of  obtaining 
the  pardon  of  their  sin,  but  the  prospect  of  a  time  when  the 
creature  shall  be  redeemed  from  the  bondage  of  corruption, 
and  from  the  vanity  to  which,  through  sin,  he  is  subjected; 
when  wars  shall  cease  in  all  the  earth;  when  Satan,  the  great 
deceiver  of  the  nations,  shall  be  restrained  and  ultimately 
destroyed;  and  a  reign  shall  ensue  of  righteousness,  and  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  this  period,  even  those  on 
whom  death  has  passed,  shall  be  restored  to  life  in  a  spiritual 
and  heavenly  body,  which  no  longer  will  be  the  seat  of  sin, 
but  in  every  respect  a  handmaid  to  the  Spirit;  until  which 

period  the  dead  rest  fium  their  labours. 

Various  indistinct  intimations  of  these  tilings,  prior  to  the 
giving  of  the  Law,  might  be  pointed  to:  as  the  promise  to 
Eve  that  the  Seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  Serpent's 
head,  which  avowedly  has  reference  to  the  final  destruction  of 
the  devil  and  his  works;  the  prophecy  of  Enoch,  which  wc 
know  from  St.  Jude,  (v.  IS.)  foretold  "the  coming  of  the  Lord 
with  myriads  of  his  Saints;"  the  manner  in  which  the  faithful 
dead  are  spoken  of,  as  being  "gathered  to  their  people," 
(doubtless  to  be  reserved  to  stand  in  their  lot  at  the  end  of 
days,)  whilst  the  living  were  threatened,  if  rebellious,  to  be 
"cut  off  from  their  people."  But  instead  of  dwelling  upon 
these  and  other  similar  intimations,  it  will  be  more  satisfactory 
to  pass  at  once  to  the  terms  of  the  Covenant  made  with 
Abraham,  and  amplified  with  Isaac  and  Jacob. 

And  here  the  reader  is  requested  to  bear  in  mind  that  the 
Covenant  made  with  x\braham  is  what  is  called  the  "New 
Covenant"  and  the  "Covenant  of  Promise:"  for  unless  he  be 
clear  in  this  matter  also,  he  will  be  unable  to  understand  "the 
hope  of  his  calling"  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  set  forth  in  the  word 
of  prophecy.     It  is  the  more  needful  to  premise  thus  much, 


20      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

seeing  that  many,  even  pious  Christians,  have  but  a  vague 
notion  of  the  nature  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  They  seem  not 
to  understand  that  there  is  any  document  in  existence,  other 
than  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament;  in  which  they  suppose 
it  to  be  throughout  diffused,  intermingled  with  the  naiTative 
and  moral  precepts  which  also  there  abound:  so  that  if  any 
would  obtain  more  definite  ideas  of  it,  they  must,  by  a  divine 
chemistry,  decompose  and  separate  the  whole,  and  laboriously 
collect  the  scattered  particles  they  want.  But  St.  Paul  puts 
the  matter  in  a  very  clear  and  simple  point  of  view,  by  inform- 
ing us,  that  it  is  the  covenant  made  with  Abraham  which  we 
are  now  under:  for  this  covenant  (he  argues)  the  law,  that  was 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after,  cannot  disannul,  that  it 
should  make  the  promise  of  none  effect.  (Gal.  iii.  17.)  So 
that  the  instrument  was  in  reality  drawn  up,  and  formally 
signed  and  sealed  in  the  days  of  the  great  Father  of  the  faith- 
ful; though,  like  other  testaments,  it  was  not  published  and 
fully  acted  upon,  till  after  the  death  of  the  Testator.  (Heb.  ix. 
15 — 17.)  And  thus  it  is  evident  that  it  is  in  relation  to  the 
period  of  its  coming  into  force,  not,  to  the  period  of  its  being 
given,  that  it  is  called  the  Neiv  Co\-s3nani — being  in  reality  an 
older  Covenant  than  that  given  through  Moses. 

This  covenant  which,  as  before  observed,  was  first  made 
with  Abraham,  and  afterwards  confirmed  and  amplified  with 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  is  to  be  found  in  the  following  places  in  the 
book  of  Genesis:  viz.  chapters  xii.  i—  Sj  xiii.  14 — 17;  xv. 
4 — 21;  xvii.  4 — 16;  xxii.  15 — IS;  xxvi.  3,  4;  xxviii.  13 — 15.* 
There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  since  it  is  this  covenant 
which  St.  Paul  refers  to,  that  it  contains  the  substance  of  all 
those  blessings  afterwards  enlarged  upon  by  the  prophets  and 
apostles.  The  whole,  however,  appears  reducible  to  three  dis- 
tinct heads,  on  each  of  which  it  will  be  necessary  to  offer  a 
few  observations. 

1.  The  first  is  the  promised  seed.  If  we  consult  Galatians 
iii.  10,  we  must  feel  persuaded,  that  this  has  principally  a 
reference  to  Christ,  who  is  pre-eminently  the  Seed  in  which 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  to  be  blessed.  (Gen.  xxii.  IS.) 
For  though  the  promise  appears  primarily  to  relate  to  Isaac, 

*  That  it  is  one  and  the  same  covenant  made  with  all  three  is  evident  from 
the  terms  of  it.  God  says  to  Abraham,  "I  will  establish  my  covenant  between 
me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  Ihcc:"  and  afterwards  more  expressly  he  says, 
"But  my  covenant  will  I  establish  with  Isaac"  &c.  (chap.  xvii.  21.)  Then  to 
Isaac  he  declares,  "I  will  bless  thcc,  &c.  and  perform  the  oath  which  I  sware 
unto  Abraham  thy  father,  (xxvi.  3.)  Afterwards  Isaac,  in  his  prophetic 
blessing  of  Jrtcoft  .says,  "God  Almighty  give  thcc  the  ble.ssing  of  Abraham;" 
and  God  confirms  this  by  reiterating  the  same  promises  at  Bethel,  and  de- 
claring, "I  will  not  leave  thee  until  I  have  done  that  which  I  have  .spoken  of 
(xxviii.  12—15.) 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      o^ 

yet  is  it  afterwards  renewed  to  Isaac  himself,  and  subsequently 
to  Jacob,  in  similar  terms:  ''and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed."  (Gen.  xxvi.  4;  xxviii.  14.)  and  as  it 
would  be  absurd,  on  the  one  hand,  to  suppose  that  the  seed  of 
Jacob  could  mean  Isaac  his  father;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
reference  to  Jacob's  poster  ily,  there  appears  to  be  none  eminently 
the  child  of  promise,  excepting  Christ. 

But,  beside  this  reference  to  Christ  as  the  seed,  the  posterity 
of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  are  likewise  spoken  of  in  this 
covenant  in  a  more  general  sense.  First,  they  are  expressly 
designated  to  Abraham,  when  God  says,  "I  will  establish  my 
covenant  between  me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee,  in  their 
generations,  and  I  will  be  their  God.  (Gen.  xvii.  7,  S.)  Se- 
condly, it  is  implied  in  the  promise,  that  God  will  multiply 
his  seed  as  the  stars  of  the  heaven,  as  the  sand  upon  the  sea- 
shore, and  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  (Gen.  xv.  5;  xvii.  2,  4; 
xxii.  17;  xxviii.  14;  xxxv.  11:)  which  places  evince  that  mul- 
titudes are  contemplated,  and  not  the  one  individual  Christ. 
And,  thirdly,  it  is  evident  in  that  the  apostle  declares:  viz.  that 
all  who  are  mystically  meryibers  of  Christ  are  accounted  as  the 
seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise.     (Gal.  iii.  29.) 

2.  The  second  particular  of  this  covenant  is  the  inheritance 
promised.  The  locality  of  this  inheritance  is  more  immediately 
Palestine,  in  its  fullest  extent,  "from  tlie  river  of  Egypt  to 
the  great  river  Euphrates."  (Gen.  xv.  IS — 21.)  Now  it  is 
important  to  notice  who  are  the  parlies  who  shall  inherit  this 
land,  according  to  the  full  meaning  of  the  terms  of  the  grant. 
jNIany  are  wont  to  limit  the  promise  to  the  posterity  of  Abra- 
ham, who  were  led  into  Canaan  by  Joshua.  Such  an  interpre- 
tation, however,  will  not,  for  many  reasons,  answer  to  the 
terms  of  the  covenant.  The  promise  of  the  land  is,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  Abraham  and  Igaac  and  Jacob,  personally  and  in- 
dividually. To  Abraham  the  Lord  said,  ^'I  am  the  Lord,  that 
brought  thee  out  of  Uz  of  the  Chaldees,  to  give  thee — ihi^  land 
— to  inherit  it."  (Gen.  xv.  7.)  *'And  I  will  give  it  unto  thee, 
AND  tothi/seed  after  thee,  the  land  wherein  thou  art  a  stranger, 
all  the  land  of  Canaan,  for  an  everlasting  possession."  (Gen. 
xvii.  and  xiii.  14, 15.)  To  Isaac  the  ])romise  is  similar:  "Unto 
thee  AND  to  thy  seed  I  will  give  all  these  countries."  (Gen. 
xxvi.  3.)  And  so  to  Jacob:  "The  land  ivhereon  thou  liest — to 
thee  will  I  give  it — AND  to  ihy  seed."  (Gen.  xxviii.  13.)  "The 
land  which  I  gave  to  Abraham  and  Isaac,  to  thee  will  I  give  it, 
AND  to  thy  seed  after  thee  will  I  give  the  land."  (Gen.  xxxv. 
12.)  When  the  Lord  afterwards  appeared  to  JVIoses,  he  refer- 
red to  the  land^as  specially  granted  to  all  three  of  these  fathers, 
together  with  their  seed:  "And  I  appeared  unto  Abraham, 
2* 


22      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  God  Almighty: 
but  by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  unto  them;  and 
I  liave  established  my  covenant  with  them, — to  give  them 
the  land  of  Canaan, — the  land  of  their  pilgrimage  wherein  they 
7L'ere  strangers."  (Exod.  vi.  3,  4.)  It  is  difficult  to  conceive 
language  more  explicit  and  precise,  to  signify  that  these  patri- 
archs were  severally  themselves  to  inherit  that  land  as  possessors 
and  not  as  pilgrims,  than  the  passages  which  are  here  brought 
forward.  Had  Abraham  received  the  promise  in  the  first 
instance  without  any  mention  of  his  seed,  and  the  promise  had 
been  referred  to  ever  after  as  relating  to  his  seed,  without 
mention  being  again  made  of  him,  it  might  then  more  plausibly 
have  been  inferred,  that  the  original  grant  never  contemplated 
any  other  possessors;  but  the  careful  repetition  to  each  of  the 
patriarchs  of  his  own  name,  together  zvilh  his  posterity — "/o 
thee  and  to  thy  seed" — puts  it  beyond  a  reasonable  question.  No 
lawyer  would  ever  think  of  interpreting  such  a  title  deed  to 
their  exclusion,  otherwise  than  by  arguing  from  the  fact,  that 
they  had  all  died  without  ever  having  received  the  promise, 
and  therefore  the  inheritance  was  not  apparently  designed  for 
them.  This,  however,  is  made  a  ground  of  argument  in  scrip- 
ture, that  they  are  to  inherit  the  land;  only  it  is  by  means 
of  a  resurrection.  For  as  Abraham  was,  we  are  assured,  per- 
suaded, that  God  would  have  raised  up  Isaac  from  the  dead, 
and  have  restored  him,  had  he  actually  sacrificed  him  on  Mount 
Moriah,  (Heb.  xi.  17 — 19;)  so  it  appears  from  the  scriptures, 
that  he  and  the  other  patriarchs  looked  forward  to  the  day  of 
Christ,  as  the  period  when  these  promises  should  ultimately 
be  fulfilled,  (John  viii.  56;  Heb.  xi.  10,  11;)  and  with  Daniel 
they  enjoyed  the  assurance,  that  they  should  stand  in  their  lot 
at  the  end  of  days. 

The  circumstance  that  they  are  spoken  of  as  pilgrims  ajid 
strangers,  in  respect  to  this  very  land,  is  of  itself  wortliy  of  par- 
ticular remark,  considering  that  the  land  is  nevertheless  so 
expressly  promised  to  them.  Wiien  Isaac  sends  Jacob  to 
Padan  Aram  he  uses  these  words:  ''And  God  Almighty  bless 
thee,  &c.,  and  give  thee  the  blessing  of  Abraham,  to  thee  and 
to  thy  seed  with  thee,  that  thou  mayest  inherit  the  land  where- 
in thou  art  a  stranger,  which  God  gave  unto  Abraham."  This 
same  Jacob  afterwards  declares  himself  before  Pharaoh  to  be 
only  a  pilgrim:  "The  days  of  my  pilgrimage  are  one  hundred 
and  thirty  years;  few  and  evil  have  the  days  of  the  years  of 
my  life  been,  and  have  not  attained  unto  the  days  of  tlie  years 
of  the  life  of  my  fathers,  in  the  days  of  their  pilgrimage." 
(Gen.  xlvii.  9.)  The  Lord,  speaking  of  them  to  Moses,  says 
(as  we  have  seen)  that  he  established  his  covenant  with  them, 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       93 

to  give  them  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  land  of  their  pilgrimage, 
wherein  they  were  strangers.  (Exodus  vi.  4.)  Steplien  no- 
tices that  though  God  promised  to  give  the  land  to  Abraham 
for  a  possession,  and  to  his  seed  after  him,  yet  that  he  gave  him 
none  inheritance  in  it — no,  not  so  much  as  to  set  his  foot  on. 
(Acts  vii.  4,  5.)  And  how  docs  St.  Paul  argue  from  all  this? 
Why,  "that  these  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the 
promises,  but  having  seen  them  afar  off,  and  were  persuaded 
of  them,  and  embraced  them,  and  confessed  that  they  were 
strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  For  they  that  say  such 
things  declare  plainly  that  they  seek  a  country."  (Hebrews 
xi.  13,  14.)  His  words  before  Agrippa  plainly  evince  his  ex- 
pectation to  have  been  that  this  promise  should  be  fulfilled  to 
the  patriarchs,  by  a  resurrection:  "And  now  I  stand  and  am 
judged  for  the  hope  of  the  promise  made  of  God  unto  ouy  fathers; 
unto  which  promise  our  twelve  tribes,  instantly  serving  God 
day  and  night,  hope  to  come, — for  which  hope's  sake,  king 
Agrippa,  I  am  accused  of  the  Jews.  Why  should  it  be  thought 
a  thing  incredible  with  you,  that  God  should  raise  the  JeadV^ 
(Acts  xxvii.  G-S.)  Here  the  promise  to  the  fathers,  and  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead  are  both  evidently  in  the  mind  of 
the  Apostle,  as  connected  together:  and  what  was  tliis  promise 
to  the  fathers?  There  is  no  express  mention  to  them  of  a  re- 
surrection; and  though  several  things  are  included  in  the  pro- 
mise to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob;  yet  is  there  not  one  of 
them  which  requires  a  resurrection  from  the  dead  to  fulfil  it, 
excepting  the  promise  of  the  land.  It  was  this,  therefore, 
which  must  have  led  Paul  to  couple  the  promise  to  the  fathers 
with  the  resurrection  from  the  dead. 

There  are  not  wanting  plain  and  explicit  references  to  the 
subject  in  the  New  Testament.  To  give  an  example  or  two, 
Zacharias  prophesied  at  the  circumcision  of  John  the  Baptist, 
that  Jesus  was  raised  up  'Ho  perform  the  mercy  to*  our  fathers, 
and  to  remember  his  holy  covenant,  the' oath  which  he  sn-are  to 
vur  father  Abraham,"  &c.  And  that  the  performance'of  this 
mercy  to  them  respects  the  resurrection  is  evident  from  Matt. 
viii.  11.  "Many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  the  west,  and 
shall  sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven:"  which  kingdom  will  hereafter  be  shown  to  be  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  It  was  this  kingdom,  concerning  which 
the  disciples  asked  him,  after  his  resurrection,  "Whether  he 
would  at  that  time  restore  it  unto  Israel,"  (Acts  i.  G.)     But  it 

*  In  our  version  the  word  "promised""  is  supplied,  which,  though  giving  a 
good  sen^e  in  itself,  diverts  attention  from  the  resurrection.  It  is  not  merely 
the  mercy  promised  to  tlie  fathers  that  Jesus  came  to  perform;  but  more  direct- 
ly to  perlorni  tlrt;  mercy  to  them,  which  ia  due  lime  he  will  effect. 


24      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

would  be  anticipating  the  subject  of  a  future  chapter,  to  enlarge 
upon  this  point  here. 

It  may  nevertheless  be  objected  to  this  view,  that  the  pos- 
session of  Palestine,  by  the  posterity  of  Israel,  from  the  time  of 
Joshua  until  the  captivity,  and  again  till  their  final  dispersion, 
is  a  fulfilment  of  the  promise.  Now  it  is  plain,  if  a  correct 
vievv  has  been  taken  of  the  sentiments  of  St.  Paul  and  others, 
that  they  did  not  consider  this  as  a  fulfilment  of  the  original 
promise;  but  there  are  further  considerations  which  require 
notice  on  this  head.  First,  it  must  be  observed  that  the  in- 
heritance of  the  land  under  Joshua  is  expressly  promised  to 
Abraham,  in  the  first  instance,  as  a  token  and  pledge  that  he 
should  inherit  it, — for  he  asks:  "Lord  God,  whereby  shall  I 
know  that  I  shall  inherit  it?"  That  is,  he  requires  a  sign  or 
token  in  the  way  of  assurance;  then  the  Lord  directs  him  to 
take  an  heifer  of  three  years  old,  a  she  goat,  &c.,  and  divide 
them;  and  after  they  are  disposed  in  order,  according  to  the 
form  of  entering  into  solemn  covenant,  a  horror  of  great  dark- 
ness comes  on  Abraham,  and  the  Lord  informs  him  that  his 
seed  should  be  a  stranger  in  a  land  not  theirs,  and  that  after- 
wards God  would  judge  that  nation  and  bring  them  out  with 
great  substance;  that  in  the  meanwhile  Abraham  should  go  to 
his  fathers  in  peace;  but  in  the  fourth  generation  his  posterity 
should  come  hither  uQ-ain.  And  after  this  is  seen  the  burning 
lamp,  the  symbol  of  the  Lord's  presence,  passing  between 
those  pieces;  and  it  is  immediately  added, — that  in  the  same 
day  the  Lord  made  a  covenant  with  Abraham  saying,  "Unto 
thy  seed  have  I  given  this  land,  from  the  river  of  Egypt  unto 
the  great  river,  the  river  Euphrates,"  &c.  (Genesis  xv.) 
This  is  the  frequent  manner  of  God,  (as  will  be  shown  more 
at  large  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  this  volume)  to  grant  a  sort  of 
inchoate  fulfilment  or  prelibation  of  a  promise,  as  the  token  and 
pledge  of  a  more  complete  one.  Thus  he  promises  to  Sarah  a 
child  at  a  '^set  time  appointed,"  (Gen.  xvii.  21;  xxi.  2,)  as  the 
pledge  that  in  her  seed  all  nations  should  be  blessed:  whilst  yet 
we  see  that  the  chief  burden  of  the  promise  is  sustained  and  car- 
ried forward  to  a  seed  yet  to  come;  in  tiiat  the  promise  is 
afterwards  renewed  to  Jacob,  the  son  of  that  seed  given  as  a 
pledge  to  Sarah,  that  in  his  seed  should  all  nations  be  blessed. 
So  that  the  birth  of /^aac  would  be  an  event  for  believers  after- 
ward to  look  back  upon,  and  encourage  themselves  from  it  in 
regard  to  the  future.  And  in  like  manner  the  possession  of 
Canaan  under  Joshua  would  serve  in  the  way  of  retrospect  for 
the  faithful  in  after  ages  to  strengthen  tlicmsclves  in  tbe  per- 
suasion, that  there  remaineth  still  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God; 
even  as  the  Lord  subsequently  holds  out  to  them,  by  his  Spi- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   25 

rit  in  the  Apostle.*  And  as  the  great  deliverance  of  the  peo- 
ple from  Egypt  and  their  occupation  of  Canaan  under  Joshua, 
were  hut  as  an  antcpast  of  that  greater  deliverance  and  suhse- 
quent  occupation  which  Israel  shall  hereafter  experience;  so, 
consistently  with  this  appointment,  it  is  intimated  that  the 
time  would  arrive  when  this  former  deliverance  should  7H1 
longer  be  reverted  to,  or  come  into  mind,  being  forgotten  or 
cast  aside,  like  all  other  mere  types  and  shadows.  For  the 
prophet  twice  declares:  ^'Behold  the  days  come,  saith  the 
Lord,  that  it  shall  no  more  be  said.  The  Lord  liveth,  that 
brought  up  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt; 
but.  The  Lord  liveth  that  brought  up  the  children  of  Israel 
from  the  land  of  the  north  and  from  all  the  lands  whither  he 
had  driven  them;  and  I  will  bring  them  again  into  their  land 
that  I  gave  unto  their  Fathers."! 

Now  it  is  the  general  character  of  a  merely  inchoate  fulfil- 
ment, that  in  some  eminent  particulars  it  falls  short  of  the 
terms  of  the  promise.  For  example,  the  land  in  the  present 
instance  is  covenanted  from  the  river  of  Egypt  to  the  great 
river  Euphrates;  which  the  Israelites  did  at  no  time,  under 
Joshua,  possess.  Nor  did  they  ever  at  any  other  period  possess 
it  to  this  extent,  unless  indeed  we  except  a  short  period  under 
Solomon:  though  this  does  not  answer  to  the  terms  of  the 
grant,  since  the  territory  surrounding  Judea  v/as  not  held  ab- 
solutely by  displacing  the  Canaanitish  or  other  heathen  inhabi- 
tants, but  by  subjecting  them  to  tribute.^  Again,  it  is  promis- 
ed— "To  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  for  ever:  (Gen. 
xiii.  15.)  And  I  will  give  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee, 
all  the  land  of  Canaan  for  an  everlasting  possession.^'  (Gen.  xv. 
8.)  Now  it  would  be  trifling  with  the  verity  of  God,  who 
declares  that  not  one  jot  or  tittle  shall  pass  away  of  all  that  he 
liath  spoken,  to  allege  that  a  merely  temporary,  and  limited, 
and  constantly  interrupted'occupation  of  the  land,  like  that  of 
Israel  from  the  time  of  Joshua  to  Titus  Vespasian,  could  j^os- 
sibly  be  the  accomplishment  of  the  promise  here  made  in  its 
proper  and  complete  sense.  It  must,  therefore,  have  a  respect 
to  that  future  occupation,  of  which  the  prophet  Amos  says: — 
''They  shall  no  more  be  pulled  up  out  of  the  land."  (Chap. 
ix.  15.) 

*  See  the  argument  of  the  Apo5.tle.    Heb.  iv.  8,  9,  &c. 

+  See  Jer.  xvi.  14, 15,  and  xxiii.  7,  8.  The  parallel  micht  be  carricJ  out 
further;  lor  the  circumstance  that  Isaac  was  a  child  of  promise,  is  declared  to 
be  typical  of  all  believers;  and  the  horror  of  great  darkness  which  Abraham 
experienced,  as  it  indicated  the  affliction  which  his  posterity  was  to  experience 
just  prior  to  their  deliverance  in  Egypt,  so  was  it  further  significant  of  the 
time  of  Jacob's  trouble,  that  "great  tribulation"  to  be  experienced  by  the 
Church  just  before  the  time  of  its  final  deliverance. 

t  See  Joshua  xvi.  10;  xvii.  13.  and  1  Kings  iv.  21,  21;  ix.  20,  21. 


26        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

In  discussing,  however,  this  promise,  as  made  to  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  it  must  again  be  borne  in  mind, 
that  Christ  is  pre-eminently  the  seed.  Consequently  the  pro- 
mise of  the  inheritance  must  respect  him,  as  well  as  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  the  other  children  of  the  promise:  for 
indeed  "all  the  promises  of  God  are  in  him  yea,  and  in  him 
Amen."  We  consequently  find,  that  the  land  of  Palestine  is 
specially  called  "L7ima?iuel's  land,"  in  connexion  with  the  pro- 
mise to  Israel,  that  a  virgin  should  conceive  and  bear  a  child 
to  be  called  Immanuel.*  We  shall,  indeed,  upon  more  close 
investigation,  find  a  length  and  breadth  in  this  part  of  the  cove- 
nant, beyond  what  we  have  yet  noticed.  For  the  promise  of 
Palestine,  in  the  extent  already  pointed  out,  is  after  all,  but  as 
a  splendid  enclosure  within  a  much  more  vast  inheritance — a 
sayictiim  sancloriim,  standing  in  relation  to  the  whole  world, 
like  'as  Goshen  did  to  the  rest  of  Egypt.  For  the  Apostle 
says,  "that  the  promise  to  Abraham  was,  that  he  should  be  heir 
of  the  zi'0)-ld,''  (Rom.  iv.  13;)  and  this  cannot,  apparently,  be 
gathered  out  of  the  original  grant,  excepting  from  the  fact, 
that  he  should  be  the  father  of  many  fiations,  and  that  out  of 
him  should  come  that  companij  of  kings  who  should  be  rulers 
ewer  all  other  nations;  (Gen.  xvii.  4;  xxxv.  11;)  just  as  it  is 
interpreted  by  the  Psalmist,  that  they  should  be  "princes  in  all 
the  earth."  (Psalm  xlv.  16.)  In  the  x^petition  of  these  pro- 
mises to  Sarah,  the  reading  of  the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate  is 
remarkable.  The  English  is — "And  I  will  bless  her,  and  give 
thee  a  son  also  of  her;  (mark  the  word  'a/so'  here,  as  showing 
that  this  is  not  the  seed  primarily  intended,)  yea,  I  will  bless 
her,  and  she  shall  be  [a  mother']  of  nations;  kings  of  people  shall 
be  of  HER,"  (Gen.  xvii.  6.)  But  the  Septuagint  understand 
the  latter  part  of  the  verse  as  relating,  not  to  Sarah,  but  to  the 

oeeCtj  viz. KoW  ivMyttTCe  ATTO  [to  TiKVOv]  Kit  iTTcLl  m  iBv>i,  Kit  ^AC-iXili;  idvm  l^ 

ATTor  arovrut — "And  I  will  bless  him,  and  he  shall  be  for  the 
nations  (or  Gentiles)  and  kings  of  nations  (or  Gentiles)  shall 
be  of  him."  Grounded,  therefore,  on  this  portion  of  the 
covenant  was  the  expectation,  in  regard  to  Christ,  that  he  should 
''rise  to  reign  over  the  Gentiles,"  (Rom.  xv.  12;)  thus  also 
expressed  by  the  Psalmist — "Arise,  0  God,  judge  the  earth; 
for  thou  shalt  inherit  all  nations."  Psalm  Ixxxii.  8. 

3.  The  third  particular  of  the  covenant  yet  remains  to  be 
considered. 

The  great  and  only  real  source  of  happiness  to  the  creature 
is  the  enjoijment  of  God  himself  Without  this,  none  can  be 
truly  blessed;  and  the  more  open  and  unclouded  is  the  mani- 

*  Compare  Isaiah  vii.  11,  and  viii.  8. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.        27 

festation  of  the  Deity  to  the  spiritual  man,  the  more  abundant 
is  the  blessedness  enjoyed.  That  the  immediate  enjoyment  of 
God  forms  part  of  the  happiness  promised  to  Abraham  and 
his  seed,  may  therefore  be  inferred  from  the  mere  fact  that 
God  blesses  him,  and  declares,  that  "in  blessing  he  will  bless 
him;"  (Gen.  xxii.  17;)  for  the  possession  of  the  world,  and  of 
a  countless  offspring,  and  the  having  a  numerous  company  of 
kings  proceed  out  of  his  loins,  were,  in  itself,  a  vajuty,  unless 
the  enjoyment  of  God  accompany  the  gift. 

But  we  are  not  left  to  deduce  so  important  a  conclusion  from 
inference  only.  The  Lord  expressly  declares,  "fear  not, 
Abraham,  /  am  thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great  re- 
ward!" (Gen.  XV.  L)  And  again:  "I  will  establish  my  cove- 
nant between  me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their 
generations,  for  an  everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God  unto  thee, 
and  thy  seed  after  thee: — and  1  will  be  their  God,"  (Gen.  xvii. 
7,  S.)  "Behold,  I  am  zvilh  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places 
whithersoever  thou  goest,"  (Gen,  xxviii.  15;)  "and  thy  seed 
shall  possess  the  gate  of  his  enemies."  (Gen.  xxii.  17.)  In 
these  promises  is  comprehended  all  spiritual  blessings.  Here 
is  protection  against  enemies,  in  that  God  is  "to  be  with"  his 
people,  and  "to  compass  them  about  as  with  a  shield;" — here 
is  the  assurance  of  victory  over  all  their  enemies,  "that  they 
may  serve  without  fear  before  him;" — here  is  their  present 
and  final  bliss,  in  the  enjoyment  of  God  as  their  exceeding — 
EXCEEDING  great  reward! 

These  things  necessarily  imply  the  personal  sanctification  of 
the  people  of  God:  for  "without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the 
Lord;"  nor  can  God  walk  with  any,  or  prove  a  reward  to 
them,  until  there  be  in  them  a  certain  meetness  of  spirit,  to 
enable  them  to  delight  in  God.  But  these  things  may  be  more 
directly  inferred  from  the  ex^^ress  terms  of  the  covenant.  When 
Lsaac  prays,  in  the  behalf  of  Jacob:  "God  give  thee  the  blessing 
of  Abraham,  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,  that  thou 
mayest  inherit  the  land,"  it  is  inferable  that  this  blessing  is 
needful,  in  its  spiritual  bearing,  to  enable  any  to  be  made  meet 
to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance  with  the  saints  in  light;  and 
that,  except  they  are  thus  blessed,  they  cannot  inherit  the  land.* 

♦  The  same  thing  is, implied  in  the  apostolic  command,  "Children  obey  your 
parents  in  the  Lord,  for  this  is  rie;ht.  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother, 
(which  is  the  first  commandment  with  promise),  that  it  maybe  well  with  thee, 
n7id  Ihou  maycsl  live  lo7ig  on  the  carlh,''  or  land,  (Ephes.  vi.  1,  2.)  The  apostle 
here  points  out  the  connection  between  the  obedience  of  faith  and  the  possession 
of  the  land.  That  he  refers  to  the  promise  to  Abraham  in  the  words,  "that 
thou  mayest  live  long;  on  the  earth,"  is  evident,  first,  in  that  length  of  days  was 
by  no  means  enjoyed  by  the  most  holy  of  the  primitive  Christians,  whether 
old  or  young;  ami,  secondly,  in  that  the  Jews  were  immediately  about  to  be 
ejected  from  that  land. 


28       ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

So  it  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  rite  of  circumcision  then  esta- 
blished. For  we  know,  from  other  scriptures,  that  "circum- 
cision is  of  the  heart,''  (Rom.  ii.  29;)  and  therefore  that,  in 
its  original  institution,  it  was  not  designed  merely  as  a  seal,  but 
as  a  perpetual  sign  and  admonition,  that  they  should  "circum- 
cise the  foreskin  of  the  heart."  (Deut.  x.  16.)  In  this  light 
it  seems  to  be,  that  Abraham  is  assured,  "that  the  uncircumcised 
shall  he  cut  o^  from  his  people,"  (Gen.  xvii.  14;)  for  as  we 
do  not  find  this  sentence  to  have  been  fulfilled  either  by  the  ma- 
gistrates, or  by  divine  judgments,  on  Israel  after  the  flesh,  it 
must  have  had  a  reference  to  their  being  excluded  or  cut  off 
from  that  general  assembly  of  the  saints  and  church  of  the 
first-born,  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven. 

And  tJiis  part  of  the  covenant  must  likewise  have  a  reference, 
as  all  the  rest  has,  to  the  seed,  "which  is  Christ."  Does  God 
covenant  to  be  the  God  of  Abraham  and  his  sded? — so  Jesus 
speaks  of  him  expressly  to  his  disciples  as  "JIfy  God  and  your 
God."  (John  xx.  17.)  He  it  is  whom  the  Lord  specially 
covenants  to  be  with,  and  to  keep  him  in  all  his  ways,  lest  at 
any  time  he  dash  his  foot  against  a  stone.  (Psalm  xci.)  He  it 
is  who  comes  as  the  seed  of  the  woman,  to  bruise  the  serpent's 
head,  and  "to  speak  with  his  enemies  in  the  gate."  And  he 
it  is,  most  pre-eminently,  who  proves  a  blessing  to  others,  (Gen. 
xii.  2,  3,)  and  through  whom  the  blessing  flows  to  all  families 
of  the  earth.  Believers  in  general  prove  a  blessing,  as  being 
the  salt  of  the  earth,  and  the  light  of  the  world,  and  in  that 
out  of  their  belly  flow  rivers  of  living  water;  but  all  that  they 
have,  which  is  gracious  and  profitable,  they  have  received  out  of 
Christ's  fiihiess;  and  the  pardon  of  sin,  and  all  direct  spiritual 
aid,  can  only  proceed  to  them  through  him. 

Now  that  the  view  here  taken  of  the  covenant  throughout 
is  not  strained;  but  that  the  Spirit  of  God  did  in  subsequent 
ages  explicate  and  set  it  forth  to  his  church  agreeably  with 
this  interpretation,  will  be  evident  by  an  appeal  to  th?  pro- 
phets; for  they  constantly  couple  the  time  of  great  deliverance 
and  redemption  with  a  return  of  Israel  to  Palestine,  a  regene- 
ration of  their  hearts,  a  renewal  of  the  earth,  and  the  fact  that 
the  tabernacle  of  God  shall  be  with  men.  For  the  present  two 
or  three  quotations  must  suffice,  which  plainly  and  unequivo- 
cally treat  of  the  New  Covenant;  which  covenant  it  has  been 
shewn,  can  be  no  other  than  this  covenant  of  promise  to 
Abraham. 

Deut.  xxx.  3 — G,  affords  an  instance  that  the  possession  of 
the  land  ultimately  intended  was  to  be  accompanied  by  the 
circumcision  of  the  heart,  and  therefore  no  occupation  of  the 
land  hitherto  enjoyed  can  be  the  one  intended.     "Then  the 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       29 

Lord  thy  God  will  turn  thy  captivity,  and  have  compassion 
upon  thee,  and  will  return  and  gather  thee  from  all  the  nations, 
whither  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  scattered  thee.  If  any  of 
thine  be  driven  out  unto  the  utmost  parts  of  heaven,  from 
thence  will  the  Lord  thy  God  gather  thee,  and  from  thence 
will  he  fetch  thee:  and  the  Lord  thy  God  will  bring  thee  into 
the  land  which  thy  fathers  possessed,  and  thou  shalt  possess  it: 
and  he  will  do  thee  good,  and  multiply  thee  above  thy  fathers. 
And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  circumcise  thine  heart,  and  the 
heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  that  thou  mayest  live." 

Jeremiah,  in  chapters  xxx.  and  xxxi.,  descants  at  length  on 
the  return  of  Israel  to  their  land,  their  possessing  it,  and  its 
great  fertility  at  that  time;  and  then  at  verses  31 — 34  declares, 
*'Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  1  will  make  a 
new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel,  and  with  the  house  of 
Judah:  not  according  to  the  covenant  that  I  made  with  their 
fathers  in  the  day  that  I  took  them  by  the  hand  to  bring  them 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt;  which  my  covenant  they  brake, 
although  I  was  an  husband  unto  them,  saith  the  Lord:  but  this 
shall  be  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel; 
After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  put  my  law  in  their 
inward  parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts;  and  I  will  be  their 
God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people.  And  they  shall  teach  no 
more  every  man  his  neighbour,  and  every  man  his  brother, 
saying,  Know  tlie  Lord:  for  they  shall  all  know  me,  from  the 
least  of  them  unto  the  greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord:  for  I 
will  forgive  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  remember  their  sin  no 
more." 

In  the  following  chapter  (xxxii.)  the  same  is  repeated  with 
some  circumstances  of  enlargement  as  to  the  spiritual  bless- 
ings of  "the  everlasting  covenant,"  which  again  can  only  be 
that  made  with  Abraham.  *  "Behold,  I  will  gather  them  out 
of  all  countries,  whither  I  have  driven  them  in  mine  anger, 
and  in  my  fury,  and  in  great  wrath;  and  I  will  bring  them 
again  unto  this  place,  and  I  will  cause  them  to  dwell  safely: 
and  they  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  their  God:  and  I 
will  give  them  one  heart,  and  one  way,  that  they  may  fear  me 
for  ever,  for  the  good  of  them,  and  of  their  children  after 
them:  and  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  them,  that 
I  will  not  turn  away  from  them,  to  do  them  good;  but  I  will 
put  my  fear  in  their  hearts,  that  they  shall  not  dcjjart  from  me." 

Ezekiel  shews  the  same  in  chap.  xi.  17 — 20,  "Therefore  say 
thus:  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God;  I  will  even  gather  you  from 
the  people,  and  assemble  you  out  of  the  countries  where  ye 
have  been  sc^tered,  and  I  will  give  you   the  land  of  Israel. 

VOL.  II. —  3 


30      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION; 

And  they  shall  come  thither,  and  they  shall  take  away  all  the 
detestable  things  thereof,  and  all  the  abominations  thereof  from 
thence.  And  I  will  give  them  one  heart,  and  I  will  put  a  new 
spirit  within  you;  and  I  will  take  the  stony  heart  out  of  their 
flesh,  and  will  give  them  an  heart  of  flesh:  that  they  may 
walk  in  my  statutes,  and  keep  mine  ordinances,  and  do  them: 
and  they  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  their  God." 

And  again  the  same  prophet,  in  chap,  xxxvi.  24 — 28,  has 
much  to  the  same  purport. — "For  I  will  take  you  from  among 
the  heathen,  and  gather  you  out  of  all  countries,  and  will  bring 
you  into  your  own  land.  Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water 
upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  clean:  from  all  your  filthiness,  and 
from  all  your  idols,  will  I  cleanse  you.  A  new  heart  also  will 
I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you:  and  I  will 
take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you 
an  heart  of  flesh.  And  I  will  put  my  spirit  within  you,  and 
cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and  ye  shall  keep  my  judg- 
ments, and  do  them.  And  ye  shall  dwell  in  the  land  that  I 
gave  to  your  fathers;  and  ye  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be 
your  God."  After  which  follows  a  promise  (v.  35,)  that  the 
land  shall  become  like  the  garden  of  Eden;  and  the  waste  and 
desolate  and  ruined  cities  become  fenced,  and  inhabited. 

That  the  preceding  extracts  refer  to  the  Christian  covenant 
is  evident  from  the  circumstance,  that  some  of  them  are  brought 
forward  by  the  apostle  when  arguing  that  the  covenant  of  works 
is  superseded.  See  Heb.  viii.  and  x.  This  covenant,  there- 
fore, is  not  to  be  arbitrarily  divided  or  limited  by  us;  we  are 
not  at  liberty  to  select  those  only  of  its  particulars,  which  may 
commend  themselves  to  our  minds;  but  it  must  be  received  in 
that  circumstantial  fulness  in  which  we  find  it  to  be  understood 
and  dilated  upon  by  the  prophets. 

At  the  same  time,  however,  that  the  terms  of  the  covenant 
are  insisted  on,  I  cannot  but  admit  that  there  is  a  difficulty,  in 
my  apprehension,  in  clearly  distinguishing  m  all  cases  between 
what  relates  to  Israel  after  the  flcsli,  who  shall  then  be  nation- 
ally restored;  and  what  relates  to  the  spiritual  Israel,  who  will 
rise  from  the  dead  at  that  time.  Most  of  the  passages  just  now 
cited,  relate  evidently  to  Israel,  after  the  flesh,  who  shall  then 
be  alive;  because  their  hearts  are  only  then  to  be  regenerated: 
whereas  the  departed  saints  of  the  Israclitish  nation,  and  all 
that  election  from  among  the  Gentiles,  ''who  shall  be  account- 
ed worthy  to  obtain  that  world,  atid  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead,'"  have  had  their  hearts  prcviousl}^  sanctified  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Some  are  of  opinion  that  the  saints  will  not  be  min- 
gled at  all  with  men,  in  the  flesh  in  the  resurrection;  or,  at 
least,  that  they  will  only  be  occasionalbj  manifested  to  them, 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  3^ 

and  therefore  will  not  be  continually  dwelling  on  the  earth.  I 
know  of  no  decided  Scripture  authority  for  the  opinion;  whilst 
yet,  I  confess  that,  judging  by  the  reason  of  the  tiling,  there 
appears  some  degree  of  plausibility  in  it.  In  the  mean  while 
it  is  evident,  from  the  terms  of  the  covenant  we  have  reviewed, 
that  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  are  again  to  dwell  in  the  re- 
newed earth;  and  as  they  will  be  of  the  resurrection,  there 
seems  no  just  reason  why  the  rest  of  those  who  sleep  in  Jesus 
should  not  dwell  on  it  likewise.  It  is  also  evident  from  Gal. 
iii.  29.  Rom.  iv.  IG.  Ephes.  ii.  11 — 22,  and  iii.  G,  that  the 
elect  Gentiles  are  made  partakers  of  the  covenant  of  promise, 
witbout  any  distinction  of  nation,  or  any  limitation  as  to  its 
provisions.  And  it  is  further  evident,  from  Psalm  xxxvii.  9, 
11,  22,  29,  34,  and  Matt.  v.  5,  that  the  meek  shall  inherit  the 
earth, — a  promise  that  seems  especially  to  regard  those,  who 
in  all  times  have,  for  the  Lord's  sake,  been  followers  of  peace. 
I  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  resurrection  saints  will  undoubt- 
edly dwell  on  earth,  and  "have  power  over  the  nations;"  (Rev. 
ii.  2G.)  though  they  will  probably  be  nearer  to  God,  and  con- 
tinually behold  his  glory,  in  a  manner  that  will  not  be  enjoyed 
to  the  same  extent  by  men  of  flesh  and  blood.  But  these 
subordinate  details  must  be  left  till  the  Lord's  advent,  when 
all  difficulties  and  obscurities  will  be  cleared  up.  ISIost  of 
them  arise  from  our  little  failh,  and  our  inabilit}'^,  through  in- 
veterate prejudices,  to  apprehend  in  many  instances  what  is 
plainly  revealed. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  VOICE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

It  will  perhaps  be  admitted  by  all  Christian  readers,  that  the 
prophets  certainly  speak  of  a  time  of  restitution  of  all  things; 
seeing  that  the  Apostle  Peter  has  plainly  declared  they  do. 
Acts  iii.  19 — 21.  And  it  will  perhaps  be  further  conceded  by 
the  generality,  that  the  passages  of  scripture,  brought  forward 
in  the  previous  chapter,  do,  at  first  view,  seem  to  wear  the 
aspect  there  contended  for.  And  yet,  because  this  system  of 
interpretation  does  not  fall  in  with  the  pre-conceived  opinions 
of  many,  and  has  been  directly  contradicted  in  latter  times  by 
excellent  and^able  Christians,  therefore  a  question  will  arise  in 
the  minds  of  some,  whether  after  all,  the  view  here  given  be 


32      ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION, 

not  more  plausible  than  just,  and  a  mere  modern  innovation  on 
the  generally  received  and  supposed  orthodox  method  of  inter- 
pretation. 

In  this  respect  it  appears  of  moment  to  inquire  into  the 
opinions  and  the  system  of  interpretation  maintained  at  differ- 
ent periods  by  the  Church  of  God,  and  to  notice  also  the 
circumstances  which  have  at  any  time  tended  materially  to 
warp  or  prejudice  its  judgment.  For  the  voice  of  the  mystical 
members  of  Christ's  body  is  surely  the  voice  of  "the  Spirit 
and  the  Bride;"  and  that  voice  will  not  therefore  pass  un- 
heeded by  those  who  desire  to  understand  the  voice  of  God 
himself.  And  it  is  the  more  needful  to  insist  on  this  point, 
seeing  that  men  have  at  all  times  been  disposed  to  disparage 
the  voice  of  the  Church,  when  its  sound  has  happened  to  be  in 
opposition  to  their  own  opinions;  and  instead  of  showing  a 
becoming  diffidence  of  going  counter  to  that  voice,  except  for 
weighty  and  constraining  reasons,  have  betrayed  an  utter 
recklessness  of  it  altogether,  as  if  our  pious  forefathers  had 
been  given  up  to  follow  cunningly-devised  fables.  The  opi- 
nions of  the  orthodox  Jeinsh  writers  have  been  in  this  manner 
cast  aside,  and  confounded  with  the  rubbish  of  anti-christian 
rabbins;  as  if,  because  a  man  were  an  Israelite,  he  could  not 
possibly  have  been  guided  into  the  truth  of  God,  and  the 
Church  before  Christ  had  been  absolutely  without  direction 
from  above.  The  sentiments  of  the  primitive  fathers  of  the 
Christian  Church  have  been  in  like  manner  at  once  discarded, 
whenever  they  have  seemed  to  contradict  more  modern  theo- 
ries. And,  in  the  present  day,  there  is  a  growing  disposition 
to  treat  the  views  maintained  by  the  fathers  of  the  Reforma- 
tion— views  which  in  some  particulars  have  been  substantially 
coincided  in  by  the  whole  protestant  body,  as  the  result  of 
ingenious  prejudice  and  antipathy  against  their  papal  enemies. 

First,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  the  subject  of  inquiry  may 
be  divided  into  seven  different  periods;  the  first  comprehend- 
ing the  voice  of  the  Jewish  Church;  the  second,  from  the  time 
of  the  Apostles  to  Constantino,  embracing  the  history  of  the 
purest  period  of  the  Christian  Church;  the  third  from  Con- 
stantino to  Jerome,  and  that  period  of  twilight,  or  neither  light 
nor  darkness,  which  preceded  the  passing  of  the  Church  into 
the  night  of  popery;  the  fourth,  what  arc  usually  called  the 
dark  ages:  viz.  from  Justinian  to  the  Reformation;  the  fifth, 
the  first  century  of  the  Reformation;  the  sixth  and  seventh, 
the  two  centuries  after  the  Reformation,  which  brings  us  down 
into  our  own  times. 

1.  The  Jewish  testimony  up  to  the  time  of  Christ  is  but 
scanty,  as  regards  any  point,  if  we  except  the  writers  of  the 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      33 

Old  Testament;  to  quote  whom  would  be  considered  a  begging 
the  question;  since  our  object  is  rather  to  bring  forward  the 
expositions  of  uninspired  writers,  to  prove  the  correctness  of 
the  view  which  has  already  been  taken  of  passages  quoted  from 
the  Scriptures.  Little,  however,  as  we  have  on  this  point,  it 
is  quite  enough  to  sanction  the  interpretation  here  given. 

The  first  is  from  the  Targums.  *  The  Babylonian  Targum 
on  Gen.  xlix.  10  says:  "Christ  shall  come,  whose  is  the  king- 
dom, and  him  shall  the  nations  serve."  How  this  was  under- 
stood by  the  Church  will  further  appear  presently.  The  Jeru- 
salem Targum  on  the  same  Scripture  says:  "The  king  Christ 
shall  come,  whose  is  the  kingdom,  and  all  nations  shall  be 
subject  unto  him." 

Rabbi  Eliezer,  the  great,  is  supposed  to  have  lived  just  after 
the  second  temple  was  built.  He,  referring  to  Hosea's  pro- 
phecy, (Chap.  xiv.  S.)  applies  it  to  the  pious  Jews  who  seemed 
likely  to  die  without  seeing  the  glory  of  Israel,  saying:  "As 
I  live,  saith  Jehovali,  I  will  raise  you  up,  in  the  time  to  come, 
in  the  resurrectio?i  of  the  dead;  and  I  will  gather  you  with  alt 
Israer'i 

The  Sadducees  are  related  to  have  asked  Rabbi  Gamaliel, 
the  preceptor  of  St.  Paul,  whence  he  would  prove  that 
God  would  raise  the  dead.  Nor  could  he  silence  them 
till  he  brought  against  them  Deut.  xi.  21,  '< Which  land 
the  Lord  sware  that  he  would  give  to  your  fathers.'"  The 
Rabbi  argued,  that  as  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  had  it  not, 
and  God  cannot  lie,  therefore  they  must  be  raised  from  the 
dead  to  inherit  it.J 

The  period  in  which  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
lived  is  doubtful;  but  certainly  he  must  have  been  a  Jew  of 
high  antiquity. §  In  chap.  ii.  7,  8,  he  says  of  the  dead,  "In 
the  time  of  their  visitation  they  shall  shine,  and  run  to  and  fro 
like  sparks  among  the  stubble:  they  shall  judge  the  ?iatio?is,  and 

*  The  Tarsuviswere  pa.raphrase:^  of  the  law,  supposed  to  have  been  first 
used  in  Ezra's  time;  (See  Nehemiah  viii.  7 — d.^  but  there  is  no-  authentic 
icr'dtcn  paraphrase  or  Targum  before  the  lime  ot  Onkelos  and  Jonatlian,  who 
are  supposetl  to  have  lived  about  thirty  3'ears  before  Christ.  Writers  indeed 
differ  about  the  antiquity  of  the  Targums,  some  making  them  later,  and  some 
earlier.  The  Jerjtiafem  Targum  is  supposed  to  be  a  fragment  of  a  much  more 
ancient  paraphrase.  These  Targums  may  be  seen  in  Buxtorfs  Hebrew  Bible. 
Basil  xvi.  10. 

+  See  his  Capiltda,  ch?i\>.  xxxiv. 

t  Rabbi  Sirnai,  though  of  later  date,  argues  the  same  from  Exodus  vi.  4,  in- 
sisting that  'the  law  asserts  in  this  place  the  resurrection  from  the  dead — to 
wit,  when  it  is  said;  A7id,also  J  have  established  my  covenant  vith  them,  to  give 
them  CoMoan,  &c.  for  (he  adds)  it  is  not  said  to  i/om,  but  to  them?  He  only, 
however,  follows  herein  the  earlier  commentators.  See  this  whole  testimony 
in  Mede's  Works,  Book  iv.  Ep.  4.3.     Also  the  Gemara  Sanhedrim,  cap.  ii. 

§  Grotius  supposes  him  to  have  lived  between  the  time  of  Ezra  and  Simon 
the  Just.  » 

3* 


34       ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

have  dominion  over  the  peoples,  (Vtdg.)  and  their  Lord  shall 
reign  for  ever."  But  whosoever  this  writer  was,  he  likewise 
only  gives  the  current  opinion  of  expositors  of  his  own  age.* 
The  sentiments  of  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Tobit  are  to 
the  same  purport.  After  describing  the  first  captivity,  and  the 
return  from  it,  together  with  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple,  ho 
says:  "Then  shall  they  again  go  forth  into  a  captivity,  by  far 
the  greatest  they  ever  were  in.  But  the  blessed  and  holy  God 
shall  remember  them,  and  gather  them  from  the  four  quarters 
of  the  world.  Then  shall  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city,  be  restored 
with  a  beautiful  and  excellent  structure,  as  also  the  temple 
shall  be  built  with  a  famous  structure,  which  shall  not  be  de- 
stroyed nor  demolished  for  ever,  as  the  prophets  have  said. 
Then  shall  the  Gentiles  be  converted  to  worship  the  Lord,  &c. 
The  horn  also  of  his  people  shall  be  exalted  before  all  nations, 
and  the  seed  of  Israel  shall  celebrate  and  glorify  his  great 
name."t  However  some  passages  in  this  book  may  prove, 
that  it  is  not  entitled  to  be  admitted  into  the  inspired  canon;  it 
nevertheless  shows  what  were  the  religious  sentiments  preva- 
lent at  a  very  remote  period  of  antiquity.  Good  critics  (as 
Dr.  Gray)  have  contended,  that  it  was  written  in  Chaldaic 
during,  or  soon  after,  the  first  captivity,  and  the  early  chapters 
even  prior  to  that  time. 

Besides  the  foregoing  statements,  which  are  mostly  advanced 
as  the  direct  exposition  of  scripture  texts,  there  are  likewise 
various  traditions  of  the  early  Jewish  church,  which  are  entitled 
to  attention  from  the  general  respect  shown  to  them  in  all  ages: 
though  they  cannot  be  urged  in  the  light  of  direct  testimony. 
Among  these  is  the  commonly  received  opinion,  that  the 
world  was  to  last,  in  its  present  state,  during  6000  years;  and 
that  in  the  seventh  millennary  it  was  to  be  renewed,  and  all 
the  promises  of  God  made  to  the  fathers  accomplished  at  that 
time.  This  tradition,  however,  does  not  appear  to  rest  upon 
any  foundation,  derived  from  the  word  of  God,  that  is  of  a 
character  sufficiently  evident  to  satisfy  a  rigid  inquirer;  whilst 
yet  it  is  remarkable  how  very  generally  it  has  been  entertained, 
by  the  Jews,  the  primitive  fathers,  and  the  reformers.  They 
seem  to  have  deduced  it  chiefly  in  an  analogical  way  from  the 
fact  of  God's  having  created  the  world  in  six  days,  and  ap- 
pointing the  seventh  for  a  sabbath;  and  also  from  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  sabbatical  and  jubilean  years.  But  no  direct  testi- 
mony  of  scripture  is   brought  for  it  (that  I   am   aware  of), 

*  See  Mede  to  Mcddus,  Book  iv.  Ep.  20. 

+  See  chap.  xiv.  according  to  the  ancknt  Constantinopolitan  copy,  written 
originally  in  Chaldee,  and  published  by  Paulus  Fagius.  The  corruption  of 
the  ordinary  Greek  and  Latiii  copies  will  be  noticed  presently. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.        35 

nearer  to  the  mark  than  Isaiah  ii.  11,  advanced  by  Rabbi 
Ketina,  from  more  ancient  authority:  "And  the  I^ord  alone 
shall  be  exalted  in  that  day."*  Nevertheless,  so  generally 
was  it  believed,  that,  immediately  after  the  destruction  of  the 
temple  by  Titus,  when  the  Christians  urged  upon  the  Jews 
that  JNIessiah  must  certainly  have  appeared,  since  the  sceptre 
had  now  passed  away,  and  the  oblation  and  sacrifice  were  ceased, 
the  latter  deemed  it  quite  sufiicient  in  reply,  to  point  to  the 
fact,  that  the  world  was  not  yet  6000  years  old.t  It  was  not, 
liowever,  agreed  among  them  in  which  of  the  seven  millenna- 
ries  of  the  world,  Messiah  would  come.  Some  thought  it 
would  be  the  beginning  of  the  fifth,  some  of  the  seventh,  and 
some  the  latter  end  of  the  sixth.J  Cut  the  most  general  one 
was,  that  the  world  was  to  be  2000  years  void  of  the  law,  2000 
wider  the  laze,  and  2000  under  Messiah;  which  opinion  was 
again  pressed  on  them  by  the  christians  to  prove,  that  in  this 
case  Messiah  must  be,  by  their  own  showing,  already  come.§ 
This  latter  opinion  is  called,  by  the  Jews,  "a  tradition  of  the 
house  of  Elias,"  an  eminent  Rabbi,  who  lived  before  the  birth 
of  Christ.  The  same  also  taught,  that  in  the  seventh  millenna- 
ry  the  earth  would  be  renewed,  and  the  righteous  dead  raised; 
that  these  should  not  again  be  turned  to  dust,  and  that  the  just, 
then  alive,  should  mount  up  with  wings  as  the  eagle;  so  that 
in  that  day  they  would  not  need  to  fear,  though  the  mountains 
(quoting  Psalm  xlvi.  3.)  should  be  cast  into  the  midst  of  the 
sea.  II 

Now  these  traditions,  though,  as  before  observed,  they  are 
not  sufficient  for  direct  testimony,  as  to  the  view  of  the  Jewish 
Church,  respecting  the  covenant  of  promise;  are,  nevertheless, 
of  use,  as  indicating  i?idireclly  what  the  general  voice  and  ex- 
pectation of  the  Church  was,  without  which  these  traditions 
could  not  have  been  so  generally  received. 

To  return,  however,  to»  the  former  testimonies;  whatever 
blindness  might  have  happened  to  Israel,  at  the  time  of  their 
casting  off,  surely  the  Church  was  not  blinded  throughciut  the 
zvhole  period,  from  the  return  from  Babylon  to  the  first  advent 
of  Messiah!  This  were  as  greatly  to  undervalue  the  voice  of 
the  Church,  as  the  Papists  are  wont  to  overrate  it:  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  say  on  what  ground  the  voice  of  the  Church,  at 
a7iy  period,  unless  confirmed  by  miracles,  ought  to  be  entitled 

*  See  the  Talmud,  under  the  head  Rosch  Haschana. 

t  See  Pezron's  Antiq.  eh.  iv.  37. 

t  See  these  various  opinions  in  Rabbi  Asche. 

§  See  the  Talmud,  under  head  Shaiiedrhn,  and  also  Harodu  Zara.  I  am 
chiefly  indebted  lor  the  authorities  in  this  matter  to  Bishop  Clayton's  inquiry, 
and  Ramundus  Martinus,  to  whom  he  also  refers. 

II  See  this  passage  at  large  in  Mede,  book  iv.  951. 


36        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

to  regard.  One  thing  we  may,  at  least,  assume,  that  such  in- 
terpretations of  Scripture,  as  the  Church  in  the  time  of  our 
Lord  and  the  apostles  was  wont  to  entertain,  would  be  correct- 
ed or  exploded;  for  it  is  quite  irreconcileable  with  all  reasona- 
ble notions  to  suppose,  that  our  Lord  would  constantly  observe 
his  pious  followers  to  speak  and  hope  erroneously,  on  this  or 
any  other  point,  yet  never  disabuse  them  or  their  false  conceits; 
the  more  especially  as  he  did  continually  attack  the  false 
opinions  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees.  We  have,  therefore, 
to  inquire  next  into  the  views  entertained  by  CJiristians  on  this 
head,  in  the  age  of  the  apostles,  and  in  the  two  centuries  im- 
mediately succeeding. 

2.  So  far  then,  as  the  testimony  of  the  christian  fathers, 
from  the  time  of  the  apostles  down  to  the  time  of  Origen,  is 
concerned,  we  have  ample  proof,  in  such  of  their  writings  as 
have  come  down  to  us,  that  it  is  similar  to  that  of  the  Jewish 
Church;  only  more  explicit,  as  might  be  expected. 

The  first  who  may  be  noticed  is  Barnabas*  who  in  Abp. 
Wake's  collection  of  the  Apocryphal  Epistles,  speaks  as  if  he 
were  Barnabas  the  apostle.  This  is  questionable;  but  there  is 
no  doubt  that  he  was  of  very  high  antiquity,  and  that  his 
epistle  was  read  in  the  Churches  at  a  very  early  period.  These 
epistles,  however,  have  been  so  corrupted  in  later  times,  that 
notwithstanding  the  purification  they  have  undergone,  through 
subsequent  critics,  it  is  necessary  to  receive  with  some  caution 
the  statements  they  contain.  The  passage,  however,  to  which 
the  appeal  will  now  be  made,  is  probably  as  free  from  serious 
objection,  allowing  for  somewhat  of  obscurity  in  it,  as  any 
which  the  book  contains.  For,  as  will  hereafter  be  shown,  the 
sentiments  of  the  fathers  on  the  point  in  question  were,  at  a 
later  period,  most  industriously  distorted  and  falsified. 

Barnabas,  then,  has  been  speaking  of  tlie  covenant  with 
Abraham,  as  having  superseded  the  Mosaic  covenant;  and  he 
inquires  whether  God  has/<///?//a/ the  covenant  which  he  sware 
to  the  fathers.  He  then  argues  that  it  is  so  far  fulfilled,  that 
God  has  sent  Christ,  who  is  to  be  the  covenant  pledge  for  the 
remainder  of  it;  quoting  Isaiah  xlii.  6:  "I  will  give  thee  for  a 
covenant  of  the  people,  for  a  light  of  the  gentiles;"  and  Isaiah 

*  Dr.  Hamilton  of  Strathblane.in  a  work  of  his  against  the  students  of  Pro- 
phecy, has  rashly  stated  that  the  principles  of  MilJennarianism  were  opposed 
and  rejected,  by  almost  every  father  of  tlie  church,  with  the  exception  of  Bar- 
nabas, Clement,  &c.  &c.  Now  the  fact  is,  that  the  numerous  fathers  mentioned 
by  the  doctor,  as  exceptions  to  his  rule,  are  almost  the  whole  of  those  whose 
works  have  been  preserved  down  to  the  time  of  Origen.  The  doctor  may  be 
safely  challenged  to  adduce  one  single  passage  in  any  father,  during  that  pe- 
riod, opposing  or  rejecting  the  view;  the  utmost  that  can  be  said  of  any  is,  that 
they  do  not  mention  the  subject;  when  they  do  advert  to  it,  they  support  and 
maintain  the  view  that  has  here  been  given. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   37 

Ixi,  21:  "the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath 
anointed  me  to  proclaim  the  acceptaljje  year  of  the  Lord,  and 
the  day  of  reslitiilion.''^  He  then  goes  on:  "Furthermore  it  is 
written  concerning  the  Sabbath, — 'Sanctify  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Lord  with  pure  hands  and  with  a  clean  iieart.'  x\nd  elsewhere 
he  saith:  'If  thy  children  shall  keep  my  Sabbaths,  then  will  I 
put  my  MEKCY  on  them;'  (alluding  to  the  mercy  promised  to 
Abraham;)  and  even  in  the  beginning  of  creation  he  makes 
mention  of  the  Sabbath;  'And  God  made,  in  six  days,  the 
works  of  his  hands,  and  he  finished  them  on  the  seventh  day, 
and  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it.'  Consider, 
my  children,  what  that  signifies: — ^ He  finished  them  in  six 
days.'  The  meaning  is  this:  that  in  six  thousand  years,  the 
Lord  will  bring  all  things  to  an  end.  For  with  him  one  day 
is  a  thousand  years,  as  Himself  testifieth,  saying:  'Behold  this 
day  shall  be  as  a  thousand  years:'  therefore,  children,  in  six 
days,  (i.  e.  in  6000  years)  shall  all  things  be  accomplished. 
And  what  is  that  he  saith, — ^He  rested  the  seventh  day?'  He 
meaneth,  that  when  his  Son  shall  come,  and  abolish  the  Wick- 
ed One,  and  judge  the  ungodly,  and  change  the  sun  and  moon 
and  stars,  then  he  shall  gloriously  rest  in  the  seventh  day.  He 
adds,  lastly:  'Thou  shalt  sanctify  it  with  clean  hands  and  a 
pure  heart,  [alluding  here  to  circumcision  being  of  the  heart.] 
Wherefore  we  are  greatly  deceived  if  we  imagine,  that  any 
can  now  sanctify  the  day  which  God  hath  made  holy,  without 
having  a  heart  pure  in  all  things.  Behold,  therefore,  he  will 
then  truly  sanctify  it  with  blessed  rest,  when  we  have  received 
the  righteous  promise; — when  iniquity  shall  be  no  more,  all 
things  being  reneiced  by  the  Lord;  and  shall  then  be  able  to 
sanctify  it,  being  ourselves  holy."  See  Section  xiv.  xv.  Epis- 
tle of  Barnabas. 

The  next  testimony  is, that  of  Papias.  Euscbius  and  Je- 
rome, though  opposed  to  his  sentiments,  both  acknowledge 
him  to  have  been  a  disciple  of  John  and  companion  of  Poly- 
carp.*  The  former  disparages  Papias,  as  being  illiterate,  and 
a  man  of  weak  judgment,  when  he  has  to  deal  with  his  testi- 
mony on  this  point;  but  he  speaks  of  him  as  being  eloquent  and 
learned  in  the  scriptures,  when  he  adverts  to  him  on  another  oc- 
casion. But  to  this  I  shall  presently  refer  again;  in  the  mean 
while  we  have  nothing  to  do  in  the  present  instance  with  the 
judgment  of  Papias,  but  only  with  his  veracity;  for  his  evi- 
dence respects,  not  what  he  thought  himself,  but  what  he 
heard  from  others:  t  and  all  have  given  him  credit  for  being  an 

*  Eusebii  Hist.  lib.  iii.  and  Hieron.     Ep.  xxi.x.  19. 

tHe  stales  ''tlyit  what  he  relates  are  the  very  words  of  the  clder.s,  Andrew, 
Peter,  Philip,  Thomas,  James,  John,  Matthew,  Aristio,  and  John  the  Presby- 
ter, as  related  to  him  by  those  of  whom  he  constantly  made  the  inquiry;"  and 
he  pledges  himself  to  the  "truth  and  fidelity  of  what  he  reports." 


38      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

eminently  piow5  and  godly  man;  one  proof  oi  which,  and  also  of 
his  wisdom  and  understanding  is,  that  hy  the  immediate  suc- 
cessors of  the  apostles  he  was  considered  qualified  to  be  made 
bishop  of  Hierapolis.  The  works  of  Papias  himself  are  not 
known  to  exist;  *  but  Eusebius  quotes  from  them  the  follow- 
ing passage:  "Other  things  also  the  same  writer,  (Papias)  has 
set  forth,  as  having  come  down  to  him  by  unwritten  tradition 
— some  new  parables  and  discourses  of  the  Saviour,  and  certain 
other  things  somewhat  fabulous.  Among  these  he  says  that 
there  will  be  a  certain  thousand  years  after  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead,  when  the  kingdom  of  Christ  shall  he  established  corporeally 
on  this  earth."     Hist.  lib.  iii.  sect.  39. 

We  next  come  to  Polycarp,  bishop  of  Smyrna,  the  contem- 
porary of  Papias  and  disciple  of  John.  His  testimony  might 
be  considered  ambiguous,  were  it  not  that  Irenseus,  whom  we 
shall  presently  bring  forward,  speaks  of  his  sentiments  on  this 
subject  in  a  manner  that  shews  clearly,  that  he  must  have  inter- 
preted certain  passages  of  scripture  conformably  with  what  has 
been  exhibited.  We  may  be  assured  therefore,  what  was  the 
drift  and  meaning  of  Polycarp  in  such  passages  as  the  follow- 
ing in  his  epistle  to  the  Philippians:  "If  we  please  [the  Lord] 
in  this  present  world,  we  shall  also  be  made  partakers  of  that 
which  is  to  come,  according  as  he  hath  promised  us,  that  he  will 
raise  us  from  the  dead;  and  that  if  we  walk  worthy  of  him,  we 
shall  also  reign  together  zvith  him.^' — "Who  of  you  are  ignorant 
of  the  Judgtnent  of  God?  Do  we  not  know  that  the  saints  shall 
judge  the  world,  as  Paul  teaches?" — "The  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  &c.  grant  unto  yoit  a  lot  and  portion 
among  his  saints,  and  us  with  you,  and  to  all  who  are  under 
the  heavens,  who  shall  believe  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
in  his  Father  who  raised  him  from  the  dead."  "Whosoever 
perverts  the  oracles  of  God  to  his  own  lusts,  and  says  there 
shall  neither  be  any  resurrection  nor  judgment,  he  is  the  first- 
born of  Satan." 

Justyn  Martyr  is  the  next.  He  was  born  a.  d.  89,  and  suf- 
fered'a.  D.  163;t  and  must,  therefore,  have  been  arrived  at 
man's  estate  before  the  death  of  Papias  and  Polycarp.  Several 
of  his  works  are  extant,  in  which  we  have  ample  proof  of  the 
opinions  which  were  held  by  the  church  in  his  days.  In  his 
Dialogue  with  Trypho,  he  says:  "I,  and  all  that  are  orthodox 
Christians,  are  acquainted  with  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
and  the  thousand  years  in  Jerusalem,  that  shall  be  re-edified, 
adorned,  and  enlarged,  as  the  prophets  Ezekiel,  Isaiah,  and 

*  They  consisted  of  five  books,  called  Aoym  KupiAKoiv  i^n-yna-i;  a  narrative  of 
the  sayings  of  our  Lord. 

t  Some  have  placed  his  martyrdom  as  early  as  a.  d.  146. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   39 

Others  declare.  For  Isaiah  saith  of  this  thousand  years,  (chap. 
Ixv.  17,)  'Behold  1  create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  and 
the  former  shall  not  be  remembered  nor  come  into  mind;  but 
be  ye  glad  and  rejoice  in  those  which  I  create:  for  behold  I 
create  Jerusalem  to  triumph,  and  my  people  to  rejoice,  &c.' — 
JNIoreover,  a  certain  man  among  us,  whose  name  is  John,  being 
one  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  Christ,  in  that  revelation  which 
was  shewn  to  him  prophesied,  that  those  who  believe  in  our 
Christ  shall  fulfil  a  thousand  years  at  Jerusalem;  and  after  that 
the  general,  and,  in  a  word,  the  everlasting  resurrection,  and 
last  judgment  of  all  together.  Whereof  also  our  Lord  spake 
when  he  said,  that  therein  they  shall  neither  marry,  nor  be 
given  in  marriage,  but  shall  be  equal  with  the  angels,  being 
made  the  sons  of  the  resurrection  of  God.'^ 

It  will  be  seen,  in  the  preceding  extracts,  that  Justyn  speaks 
of  the  opinion  as  being  generally  maintained  by  the  orthodox. 
In  the  following  passage  he  unceremoniously  classes  those  who 
dissented  from  it  among  heretics:  for  he  introduces  the  previous 
remarks,  by  saying:  "I  confessed  to  thee  before,  that  I  and 
many  others  are  of  this  opinion,  &.c.  And  on  the  contrary,  I 
have  signified  unto  thee,  that  many,  even  those  Christians  who 
fulloio  7} ot  godly  and  pure  doctrine,  do  not  acknowledge  this:  for 
I  have  demonstrated  to  thee,  that  these  are  indeed  called  Chris- 
tians, but  are  Atheists  andungodly /iere/JC5,  who  altogether  teach 
blasphemous,  atheistical  and  unsound  things."* 

The  testimony  of  Irenseus  is  equally  full  and  explicit  with 
that  of  Justyn.  He  succeeded  Pothinus  as  Bishop  of  Lyons, 
about  A.  D.  171,  and  was  martyred  in  a.  d.  202  or  20S.t  He 
wrote,  among  other  works,  five  books  upon  the  Heresies  of  his 
times,  which  books  are  still  extant.  He  speaks  of  St.  John 
the  apostle  as  having  lived  to  the  times  of  Trajan,  of  Poly- 
carp  as  a  hearer  of  St.  John,  and  of  himself  as  a  hearer  of 
Poly  carp,  t 

The  sentiments  of  Irenxus  on  the  question  before. us,  are 

*  The  genuineness  of  this  passage  will  be  considered  in  the  fourth  section 
of  this  chapter. 

t  See  Cave's  Lives  of  the  Fathers. 

t  In  an  epistle  to  Florinus,  he  says: — 'When  I  vas  very  young,  I  saw  you 
in  the  Lower  Asia  with  Polycarp.  I  can  remember  circumstances  of  that 
time  better  than  those  which  have  happened  more  recently;  for  the  things 
which  we  learn  in  childhood  grow  up  with  the  soul,  and  unite  themselves  to 
it;  insomuch  that  I  can  tell  the  place  in  which  the  blessed  Polycarp  sat  and 
taught,  and  his  going  out  and  coming  in,  the  manner  of  his  Hie,  the  form  of 
his  person,  and  the  discourses  he  made  to  the  people;  and  how  he  related  his 
conversation  with  John,  and  others  who  had  seen  the  Lord;  and  how  he  re- 
lated their  sayings,  and  the  things  which  he  heard  of  them  concerning  the 
Lord,  both  concerning  his  miracles  and  doctrine,  as  he  had  received  them 
from  the  eye-witnesses  of  t/ic  Lord  of  Life:  all  of  which  Polycarp  related 
agreeable  to  the  Scriptures,'  &c. 


40     ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION, 

principally  to  be  found  in  the  twelve  last  chapters  of  his  fifth 
book  against  Heresies,  one  or  two  extracts  from  which  here 
follows.  In  the  32nd  chapter,  having  noticed  that  certain 
lieretical  opinions  on  the  subject,  arise  from  ignorance  of  the 
arrangements  of  God,  and  of  the  mystery  of  the  resurrection 
and  kingdom  of  the  just;  therefore  (he  says)  it  becomes  need- 
ful to  speak  of  them.  Then  he  proceeds: — "For  it  is  fitting 
that  the  just,  rising  at  the  appearing  of  God,  should  in  the  re- 
newed state  receive  the  promise  of  inheritance  which  God 
cove?ianted  to  the  fathers,  and  should  reign  in  it;  and  that  then 
should  come  the  final  judgment.  For  in  the  same  condition 
in  which  they  have  laboured  and  been  afflicted,  and  been  tried 
by  suffering  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  it  is  but  just  that  in  it  they 
should  receive  the  fruits  of  their  suffering,  so  that  where,  for 
the  love  of  God,  they  suffered  death,  there  they  should  be 
brought  to  life  again;  and  where  they  endured,  bondage,  there 
also  they  should  reign.  For  God  is  rich  in  all  things,  and  all 
things  are  of  him:  and  therefore  I  say  it  is  becoming,  that  the 
creature  being  restored  to  its  original  beauty,  should  without 
any  impediment  or  drawback  be  subject  to  the  righteous.  This 
the  apostle  makes  manifest  in  the  epistle  to  the  Romans:  'For 
the  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the  manifestation 
of  the  sons  of  God,  &c.  for  the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  de- 
livered from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liber- 
ty of  the  children  of  God.'  The  promise  likewise  of  God 
which  he  made  to  Abraham  decidedly  confirms  this:  for  he  says, 
*Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from  the  place  where  thou 
art,  northward,  and  southward,  and  eastward,  and  westward; 
for  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to 
thy  seed  for  ever,'  (Gen.  xiii.  14,  15.)  And  again,  'Arise, 
walk  through  the  land  in  the  length  of  it  and  in  the  breadth 
of  it,  for  I  will  give  it  unto  thee,'  (ver.  17.)  For  Abraham 
received  no  inheritance  in  it, — not  even  a  foot-breadth,  but  al- 
ways was  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner  in  it.  And  when  Sarah 
his  wife  died,  and  the  children  of  Heth  offered  to  give  him  a 
piece  of  land  for  a  burial  place,  he  imuld  7iot  accept  if,  but  pur- 
chased it  for  four  hundred  pieces  of  silver,  from  Ephron  the 
son  of  Zohar  the  Hittite;  staying  himself  on  the  promise  of 
God,  and  being  unwilling  to  seem  to  accept  from  man  what 
God  had  promised  to  give  him,  saying  to  him,  *To  thy  seed 
will  I  give  this  land,  from  the  great  river  of  Egypt  to  the  great 
river  Euphrates.'  Thus,  therefore,  as  God  promised  to  him 
the  inheritance  of  the  earth,  and  he  received  it  not  during  the 
whole  time  he  lived  in  it,  it  is  necessary  that  he  should  receive 
it,  together  with  his  seed,  that  is,  with  such  of  them  as  fear 
God,  and  believe  in  him — in  the  resurreclio7i  of  thejust.^'     Ire- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      4 J 

naeus  then  goes  on  to  show,  tliat  Christ  and  the  church  are  also 
of  the  true  seed,  and  partakers  of  the  promises,  and  concludes 
the  chapter  as  follows:  "Thus,  therefore,  those  who  are  of 
faith  are  hlesscd  with  faithful  Ahraham;  and  the  same  are  the 
children  of  Ahraham.  For  God  repeatedly  promised  the  in- 
heritance of  the  land  to  Ahraham  and  his  seed;  and  as  neither 
Ahraham  nor  his  seed — that  is,  not  those  who  are  justified  by- 
faith — have  enjoyed  any  inheritance  in  it,  they  icill  undoubtedly 
receive  it  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just.  For  true  and  unchange- 
able is  God:  wherefore  also  he  said,  'Blessed  are  the  meek, 
for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth.'  " 

In  the  34th  chapter  he  supports  his  statements  by  numerous 
quotations  from  the  prophets,  &c.  As  it  is  a  matter  of  great 
interest  and  importance  to  the  student  of  prophecy,  to  know 
what  was  the  method  of  expounding  or  applying  the  propheti- 
cal scriptures  in  times  so  near  to  the  apostles,  a  brief  extract  is 
given  as  a  specimen:  "Isaiah  plainly  declares  similar  happiness 
at  the  resurrection  of  the  just;  thus  saying,  'Thy  dead  men 
shall  arise,  and  those  in  the  tombs  shall  rise,  and  they  shall 
rejoice  who  are  in  the  earth.  For  thy  dew  is  salvation  to  them,' 
(xxvi.  19.)  Ezekiel  says  the  same;  'Behold,  I  will  open  your 
graves,  and  lead  you  forth  from  your  tombs,  in  order  that  I 
may  lead  forth  from  their  sepulchres  my  people,  and  I  will 
put  the  Spirit  in  you,  and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord,' 
(xxxvii.  12,  14.)  And  again  the  same  saith:  'These  things 
saith  the  Lord,  \Vhen  I  shall  have  gathered  Israel  from  the 
nations  among  whom  they  are  scattered,  then  shall  they  dwell 
in  their  land,  tliat  I  have  given  to  my  servant  Jacob.  And 
they  shall  dwell  safely  therein,  and  shall  build  houses,  and 
plant  vineyards,'  &c.  (chap,  xxviii.  25,  2G.)"  Then  follow 
Jer.  xxiii.  7,  8;  Isa.  xxx.  25,  26;  Iviii.  14;  Luke  xii.  27,  30; 
Rev.  XX.  6;  Isa.  vi.  11;  Daiiiel  vii.  27;  Jeremiah  xxxi.  10 — 15; 
Isaiah  xxxi.  9;  xxxii.  1;  liv.  11 — 14,  and  Ixv.  IS — 28,  in  the 
order  here  placed,  and  applied  to  the  same  doctrine. 

The  next  father  of  any  eminence  whose  sentiments  on  this 
head  can  be  ascertained,  is  Tertullian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  who 
wrote  his  famous  'Apology,'  about  a.  d.  ISO.  In  his  third 
book  against  Marcion,  chap.  xxiv.  he  says:  "For  we  also  con- 
fess, that  a  kingdom  is  promised  us  on  earth:  before  that  ia 
heaven,  but  in  another  state,  viz.  after  the  resurrection,  for  it 
•will  be  for  a  thousand  years  in  a  city  of  divine  workmanship, 
viz.  Jerusalem  brought  doiimfrom  heaven:  and  this  city  Ezekiel 
knew,  and  the  apostle  John  saw,  &c.'*     This  we  say  is  the  city 

*  There  follows  here  a  passage  concerning  a  vision  of  a  city,  which  Ter- 
tullian asserts  w^s  acknowledged  by  the  Romans  to  have  been  seen  in  Judea. 
But  my  object  is  not  to  bring  forward  the  extraneous  matter  iutroduced  by  the 
VOL.  II. 1 


42 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


provided  of  God  to  receive  the  saints  in  the  resurrection, 
Avherein  to  refresh  them  with  an  abundance  of  all  spiritual 
good  things,  in  recompense  of  those  which  in  the  world  we 
have  either  despised  or  lost.  For  it  is  both  just  and  worthy 
of  God,  that  his  servants  should  there  triumph  and  rejoice, 
where  they  have  been  afflicted  for  his  Name's  sake.  This  is 
the  manner  of  the  heavenly  kingdom." 

Besides  the  testimony  above  adduced,  Tertullian  mentions 
it  as  a  custom  of  his  times  for  Christians  to  pray,  "that  they 
might  have  part  in  the  first  resurrection."  And  Cyprian,  who 
flourished  about  A.  d.  220,  informs  us,  that  the  thi'-st  for  mar- 
tyrdom which  existed  among  Christians  arose  from  their  sup- 
posing, that  those  who  suffered  for  Christ  would  obtain  a  more 
distinguished  lot  in  his  kingdom.  From  which  we  may 
perceive  how  highly  practical  that  doctrine  was,  which  could 
inake  men  even  court  death,  and  take  joyfully  the  spoiling 
of  their  goods,  and  to  suffer  torture,  not  obtaining  deliverance, 
that  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection.     Heb.  xi. 

3.  Having  brought  forward  these  eminent  testimonies  from 
those  fathers  of  the  two  first  centuries  who  are  known  to  us,  or 
rather  whose  words  have  come  down  to  us;  the  next  step  in 
the  inquiry  will  be  into  the  voice  of  the  Church  from  Origen  to 
Jerome  inclusive;  for  with  Origen  a  new  era  commenced  in 
the  history  of  prophetic  interpretation;  and  Jerome  and  Au- 
gustine were  almost  thd;  last  of  the  fathers  of  any  eminence 
who  preceded  the  authoritative  establishment  of  the  papacy. 
Origen  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century: 
Jerome  died  about  a.  d.  420;  and  the  papacy  was  (as  many 
suppose)  firmly  established  by  Justinian  in  533:  and  in  the 
century  that  intervened  between  Jerome  and  this  period,  there 
arose  no  one  on  the  side  of  genuine  Christianity  who  may  not 
be  considered  a  feeble  follower  of  that  father;  whilst  during 
the  whole  of  that  same  century  those  idolatrous  practices  and 
deviations  from  the  true  faith,  which  led  on  to  the  maturing  of 
the  papal  apostacy,  had  been  rapidly  spreading  and  acquiring 
strength. 

As  the  system  of  interpretation,  which  now  commenced 
with  Origen,  greatly  affected  the  sense  of  holy  writ,  and  be- 
came so  popular  in  the  end  as  insensibly  to  carry  away  with  it 
the  majority  of  Christians,  it  must  of  course  be  viewed  as 
having  greatly  affected  tJw  voice  of  the  Church;  and  it  conse- 
quently becomes  an  important  question,  how  far  the  system  of 

fathers  into  their  writings,  and  which  was  the  fruit  merely  of  their  own  indi- 
vidual judgment;  but  to  exhibit  that  system  oi expounding  and  applying  scrip- 
ture, which  seems  to  have  been  as  yet  handed  down  uninterruptedly  among 
them. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      43 

Origen  was  compatible  with  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  as  exhibited 
in  the  holy  scriptures. 

It  is  liicewisc  important  to  observe,  that  up  to  the  time  of 
Origen,  and  also  in  his  time,  the  system  of  exposition  which 
characterised  the  two  first  centuries,  was  still  prevalent.  Ow- 
ing, however,  to  the  great  influence  of  the  learning  and  talents 
of  Origen,  his  allegorizing  system  soon  began  to  obtain  with 
many;  insomuch  that  Nepos,  a  pious  and  talented  bishop  of 
Egypt,  was  ])rompted  to  write  a  book,  entitled  'The  Repre- 
hensions of  Allcoorizcrs,'  which  was  specially  directed  against 
those  who  now  began  to  explain  the  JNIillennium  figuratively. 
After  the  death  of  Nepos,  Dionysius,  a  zealous  disciple  of  Ori- 
gen, became  bishop  of  Alexandria;  and  perceiving  that  the 
views  of  Nepos  overthrew  the  principle  of  his  master's  system, 
he  laboured  to  refute  them;  and  of  his  success  in  drawing  over 
one  Coracion,  with  certain  of  his  followers,  in  the  villages  of 
Arsenoita,  Eusebius  preserves  the  account,  (lib.  vii.  c.  22 — 24.) 
But  he  relates  also,  tbat  Dionysius,  in  the  pursuit  of  his 
object,  was  led  to  question  tlie  canonical  authority  of  the 
Apocalypse;  from  which  a  fair  inference  may  be  drawn,  that 
he  found  himself  hard  pressed  by  passages  in  that  book. 
INIosheim,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  observes,  "that  long 
before  this  controversy  an  opinion  had  prevailed,  that  Christ 
was  to  come  and  reign  a  thousand  years  among  men,  before 
the  entire  and  final  dissolution  of  this  world;" — "that  this 
opinion  had  hitherto  met  with  ?io  opposition;" — "and  that  now 
its  credit  began  to  decline  principally  through  the  influence 
and  authority  of  Origen,  who  opposed  it  with  the  greatest 
warmtb,  because  it  was  incompalible  with  some  of  his  favourite 
sentiments."   (vol.  i.  p.  2S4.) 

In  regard  to  the  system  of  interpretation  struck  out  by 
Origen,  and  which  was  adopted  with  modifications  and  varie- 
ties by  so  many  others,  the  best  way  of  briefly  conveying  an 
idea  of  its  general  character,  and  of  shewing,  that  the  opinion 
here  expressed  of  it  is  not  that  of  an  individual  writer,  will  be  to 
bring  forward  two  or  three  instances,  displaying  the  manner  in 
which  it  has  been  reprobated  by  eminent  expositors  in  subse- 
quent times.  Jerome,  who  had  himself,  though  unconsciously, 
in  a  measure  imbibed  the  leaven  of  it,  docs  nevertheless  condemn 
it;  but  his  opinion  may  be  shewn  by  a  reference  to  Luther's, 
who  says,  in  his  Annotations  on  Deuteronomy,  "That  which 
I  have  so  often  insisted  on  elsewhere,  I  here  once  more  repeat; 
viz.  that  the  Christian  should  direct  his  first  eflorts  toward 
understanding  the  literal  sense  (as  it  is  called)  of  scripture, 
which  alone  is  the  substance  of  faith  and  of  Christian  theology; 
— which  alone  will  sustain  him  in   the  hour  of  trouble   and 


44        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

temptation; — and  which  will  triumph  over  sin,  death,  and  the 
gates  of  hell,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God.  The  allegorical 
sense  is  commonly  uncertain,  and  hy  no  means  safe  to  build 
our  faith  upon;  for  it  usually  depends  on  human  opinion  and 
conjecture  only,  on  which,  if  a  man  lean,  he  will  find  it  no 
better  than  the  Egyptian  reed.  Therefore,  Origen,  Jerome, 
and  similar  of  the  fathers,  are  to  be  avoided,  with  the  whole  of 
that  Alexandrian  school,  which,  according  to  Eusebius  and 
Jerome,  formerly  abounded  in  this  species  of  interpretation. 
For  later  writers  t/nhappilij  follozvi/ig  their  too  much  praised  and 
prevailing  example,  it  has  come  to  pass,  that  meu  make  just 
what  they  please  of  the  Scriptures,  until  some  accommodate 
the  word  of  God  to  the  most  extravagant  absurdities;  and,  as 
Jerome  complains  of  his  own  times,  they  extract  a  sense  from 
Scripture  repugnant  to  its  meaning:  of  which  offence,  however, 
Jerome  himself  was  also  guilty."  Ann.  in  DeUt.  cap.  i.  fo.  55. 
Dr.  Mosheim  observes:  "After  the  encomiums  we  have  given 
to  Origen,  &:c.,  it  is  not  without  deep  concern  we  are  obliged 
to  add,  that  he  also,  by  an  unhappy  method,  opened  a  secure 
retreat  for  all  sorts  of  errors,  wliich  a  wild  and  irregular  imagi- 
nation could  bring  forth."  And  after  noticing  that  he  aban- 
doned the  literal  sense,  and  divided  the  hidden  sense  into  moral 
and  mystical,  or  spiritual,  he  adds:  "A  prodigious  number  of 
interpreters,  both  in  this  and  the  succeeding  ages,  followed  the 
method  of  Origen,  though  with  some  variations;  nor  could  the 
few,  who  explained  the  sacred  writings  with  judgment  and  a 
true  spirit  of  criticism,  oppose  with  any  success  the  torrent  of 
allegory  that  was  overflowing  the  Church."  Ch.  Hist.  cent, 
iii.  part  2.  sect.  5.  G.  Milner,  in  his  Church  History,  says 
somewhat  similar: — "No  man,  not  altogether  unsound  and 
hypocritical,  ever  injured  the  Church  of  Christ  mo7'e  thayi  Origen 
did.  From  the  fanciful  mode  of  allegory,  introduced  by  him, 
and  uncontrolled  by  scriptural  rule  and  order,  there  arose  a 
vitiated  method  of  commenting  on  the  sacred  pages;  which 
has  been  succeeded  by  the  contrary  extreme, — viz.  a  contempt  of 
types  and  figures  altogether.  And  in  a  simHar  way  his  fanci- 
ful ideas  o{  letter  and  spirit  tended  to  remove  from  men's  minds 
all  just  conceptions  of  genuine  spirituality.  A  thick  mist  for 
ages  pervaded  the  Christian  world,  supported  and  strengthened 
by  his  allegorical  manner  of  interpretation.  The  learned  alone 
were  considered  as  guides  implicitly  to  be  followed;  and  the 
vulgar,  when  the  literal  sense  was  hissed  off  the  stage,  had  no- 
thing to  do  but  to  follow  their  authority,  wherever  it  might 
lead  them.      Vol.  i.  page  4G9. 

A  very  considerable  number,  however,  of  Christians,  de- 
cidedly the  majority,  did  nevertheless  continue,  sometime  after 
Origen,  to  maintain  the  millennarian  view.      So  difficult  indeed 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


45 


is  it  to  depart  consistently,  and  all  at  once,  from  a  beaten  track, 
that  even  Origen  himself  is  now  and  then  betrayed  into  state- 
ments, which  arc  only  reconcileablc  on  the  millcnnarian  sys- 
tem of  interpretation.  Take,  for  example,  the  following  pas- 
sage against  Cclsus,  (lib.  iii.) — "We  do  not  deny  the  purging 
lire  of  the  destruction  of  wickedness,  and  the  renovation  of  all 
things."  And  again,  in  his  thirteenth  Homily  on  Jeremiah, 
he  says:  ''If  any  man  shall  preserve  the  washing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  &.C.  he  shall  have  his  part  in  the  first  Resurrectio?i;  but  if 
any  man  be  saved  in  the  second  resurrection  only,  it  is  the  sinner 
that  needeth  the  baptism  by  fire.  Wherefore,  seeing  these 
things  are  so,  let  us  lay  the  Scriptures  to  heart,  and  make  them 
the  rule  of  our  lives;  that  so,  being  cleansed  from  the  defile- 
ment of  sin  before  w^e  depart,  we  may  be  raised  up  uitli  the 
saints,  and  have  our  lot  icith  Christ  JesusJ' 

Of  those  fathers  from  Origen  to  Jerome  who  dccidedlij  took 
the  millcnnarian  view,  the  most  eminent  was  Laclanlius,  who 
flourished  in  the  time  of  Constantino  the  Great,  about  a.  d.  310. 
He  was  considered  the  most  learned  of  the  Latin  fathers,  and 
his  works  abound  with  testimonies  to  the  matter  in  hand.  A 
specimen  is  here  given  from  his  book,  De  Drcinis  Institulioni- 
bus;  which  example  is  selected  in  preference,  because  there 
will,  by-and-by,  be  a  further  use  for  it.  Speaking  of  the 
coming  of  God  to  judge  the  world  he  says:  "But  when  he 
shall  do  that,  and  shall  restore  the  just  that  have  been  from  the 
beginning  unto  life,  he  shall  converse  among  men  a  thousand 
years,  and  rule  them  with  a  most  righteous  government.  This 
the  Sibyl  elsewhere  proclaims,  saying.  Hear  me,  0  ye  men, 
the  eternal  king  doth  reign,  &c.  Then  they  that  shall  be  alive 
in  their  bodies  shall  not  die,  but  by  the  space  of  those  thousand 
years  shall  generate  an  infinite  multitude,  and  their  oflfspring 
shall  be  holy  and  dear  to  God.  And  they  that  shall  be  raised 
from  the  dead  shall  be  over  the  living  as  judges.  And  the 
Gentiles  shall  not  be  uilcrbj  extinguished;  but  some  shall  be 
left  for  the  \-ictory  of  God,  that  thc}"^  may  be  triumphed  over 
by  the  just,  and  reduced  to  perpetual  servitude.  About  the 
same  time  the  prince  of  devils,  the  forger  of  all  evil,  shall  be 
bound  witii  chains,  and  shall  be  in  custody  all  the  thousand 
years  of  the  heavenly  empire,  under  which  righteousness  shall 
reign  over  the  world."    Chap.  xxiv. 

Methodius,  bishop  of  Olympus,  who  suflered  martyrdom,  un- 
der Decius  about  a.  d.  312,  says,  in  his  book  on  the  resurrec- 
tion, written  against  Origen,*  "It  is  to  be  expected  that  at  the 

»  The  book  is  not  known  to  be  extant,  but  the  passage  here  quoted  is  cited, 
with  others,  by  PkocIus  in  Epiphanius.  See  the  Paris  Edition  of  the  Works 
of  Methodius,  by  Combesis,  1G14. 

4* 


46      ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION, 

conflagration  the  creation  shall  suffer  a  vehement  commotion, 
as  if  it  were  about  to  die;  whereby  it  shall  be  renovated.,  and 
not  perish;  to  the  end  that  we,  then  also  renovated,  may  dwell 
in  the  renewed  world,  free  from  sorrow.  Thus  it  is  said  in 
Psalm  civ:  'Thou  wilt  send  forth  thy  Sj/irit,  and  they  shall  be 
created,  and  thou  wilt  renew  the  face  of  the  earth,'  &c.  For 
seeing  that  after  this  world  there  shall  be  an  earth,  of  necessity 
there  must  be  inhabitants;  and  these  shall  die  no  more,  but  be 
as  angels,  irreversibly  in  an  incorruptible  state,  doing  all  most 
excellent  things." 

Epiphanius,  who  flourished  about  A.  D.  365,  mentions  the 
doctrine  being  held  by  many  In  his  time,  and  speaks  favoura- 
bly of  it  himself  Quoting  the  words  of  Paulinus,  bishop  of 
Antioch,  concerning  one  Vitalius,  whom  he  highly  commends 
for  his  piet}'^,  orthodoxy,  and  learning,  he  says:  "Moreover 
others  have  afiirmed  that  the  venerable  man  should  say,  that  in 
the  first  resurrection  we  shall  accomplish  a  certain  mlllennary 
of  years,"  &c. ;  on  which  Epiphanius  observes:  "And  that  in- 
deed this  mlllennary  term  is  written  of,  In  the  Apocalypse  of 
John,  and  is  received  of  very  many  of  them  that  are  godly,  is 
manifest."     Lib.  ill.  2. 

But  the  most  important  testlm.ony.  In  regard  to  the  preva- 
lence of  this  doctrine  during  the  fourth  century  is,  the  counte- 
nance given  to  It  by  the  council  of  Nice,  called  by  Constantino 
the  great,  A.  D.  325.  'This  council,  6esic/es  their  definition  of 
faith  and  canons  ecclesiastical,  set  forth  certain  Si^TUTrma-u;  or 
forms  of  ecclesiastical  doctrines.  Some  of  these  are  recorded  by 
Gelaslus  Cyzlcenus,  (Hist.  Act.  Con.  NIc.)  among  which  Is  the 
following,  on  the  last  clause  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  "J  look  for 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the  life  of  the  world  to  come." — 
"The  world  was  made  inferior  (^;/)stxs/ioc)  through  foreknow- 
ledge: for  God  saw  that  man  would  sin;  therefore  we  expect 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  according  to  the  holy  scrip- 
tures, at  the  appearing  of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  And  as  Daniel  says:  (Chap.  vll.  18.)  Thesaints  of  the 
Most  High  shall  take  the  kingdom.  And  there  shall  be  a  pure 
and  holy  land,  the  land  of  the  living  and  not  of  the  dead; 
which  David  forseeing  with  the  eye  of  faith  exclaims:  / 
believe  to  see  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  iti  the  la?id  of  the  living, — 
the  land  of  the  meek  and  humble.  Blessed,  saith  Christ,  (Matt. 
V.  5.)  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  ifiheril  the  earth.  And  the 
prophet  saith:  (Isaiah  xxvi.  6.)  ^'The  feet  of  the  meek  and  hum- 
ble shall  tread  upon  it."  Thus  the  majority  of  the  Church  must, 
at  the  period  of  this  council,  have  still  held  to  the  primitive 
method  of  interpretation.* 
*  Diipin,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  whilst  be  admits  the  existence  of  the 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       47 

Later  in  the  period  from  Origen  to  Jerome,  now  under  con- 
sideration, there  is  evidence  that  millcnnarian  opinions  were 
held  by  Gregory  oi'  Nyssa,  and  by  Paiilinus,  bishop  of  Antioch. 
And  Jerome  informs  us,  that  it  was  liiicwise  heUI  by  Victori- 
nus,  bisliop  of  Pettaw,  by  Apollinaris,  bishop  of  Bituria.  Au- 
gustine however  and  Jerome  himself  now  demand  attention, 
and  with  the  mention  of  these,  the  account  of  this  period  shall 
be  closed.  These  eminent  men  were  contemporaries;  Jerome 
dying  in  A.  d.  420,  Augustine  in  4  30.  Aui>usli>ic  \hus  expresses 
himself  on  this  point,  in  his  remarks  on  Rev.  xx.  G.  "Those 
who  have  supposed  from  these  words,  that  there  shall  be  a  first 
corporal  resurrection,  have  been  moved  among  other  things 
chiefly  by  the  number  of  the  thousand  years;  as  if  there  ought 
to  be,  among  the  saints,  a  sabbalism,  as  it  were,  in  a  holy  vaca- 
tion, after  their  six  thousand  years  of  trouble.  Which  opinion 
w^ould  indeed  be  tolerable,  if  it  should  be  believed  {hat  spiritual 
delights  should  redound  to  the  saints  in  that  sabbath,  by  the 
presence  of  the  Lord;  for  we  also  were  ourselves  formerly 
(aliquando)  of  that  opinion."  De  Civ.  Dei.  Lib.  xx.  c.  7.  Now, 
if  Augustine  had  been  formerly  of  that  opinion,  it  is  jjlain  that 
he  must  first  have  received  it  as  tlie  most  plain  and  obvious 
view  of  the  subject;  and  that  he  was  not  induced  to  look  shy 

twenty  canons  of  the  council  of  Nice,  contained  in  Gelasius,  questions  the 
'«ds,'" related  by  him  as  of  that  council,  to  be  genuine.  He  says:  "Neither 
Ruftin,  nor  Socrates,  nor  Theodoret,  nor  any  other  ancient  historian,  has 
either  seen  or  known  these  ads.  St.  Jerome  says,  that  he  had  read  the  acts  of 
the  council  of  Nice;  but  he  means  by  this  form  of  expression,  the  canons  and 
subscriptions.  The  acts  which  Gelasius  attributes  to  Dalmasius,  were  made 
subsequent  to  the  council,  and  taken  out  of  Eusebius,  Theodoret,  Socrates, 
and  other  historians."  There  is  no  need  to  enter  into  the  reasons  which 
Dupin,  who  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  had  for  controverting  the  testimony  of 
Gelasius:  the  reader  is  requested  only  to  observe,  that  so  far  as  the  point  in 
hand  is  concerned,  it  is  not  affected  by  the  doubt  which  he  endeavours 
to  cast  upon  it.  For,  suppose  it  to  be  true,  that  Gehasius  compiled  these 
things  from  the  sources  named;*  and  suppose,  as  another  Romish  historian  has 
asserted,  "that  he  was  a  compiler  without  method,  collecting  at  random  all  he 
could  find;"  it  shakes  the  credit  of  Gelasius, asan  original  and  discitet  writer, 
but  the  tater  in  dale  any  of  the  authorities  are,  which  may  be  pirated  by  Gela- 
sius, the  more  useful  they  are  in  the  present  instance;  for  they  prove  the  pre- 
valence of  the  doctrine  at  so  much  later  a  period.  There  is  reason  however 
to  question,  whether  the  ii-i.TuTraTw,  &c.  be  not  different  from  what  Dupin 
means  by  the  'acts;'  and  greater  reason  still  to  question,  whether  Jerome, 
when  he  mentions  acts,  did  not  fully  understand  his  own  form  of  expression, 
and  mean  acts.  Certainly  more  has  come  down  to  us,  as  authentic,  of  ilic  pro- 
ceedings of  that  couhcii,  than  the  rules  for  ecclesiastical  discipline,  contained 
in  the  twenty  canons  acknow-ledged  by  Dupin.  For  the  drawing  up  these 
canons  was  the  last  thing  the  council  did;  the  first  business  that  occupied  them, 
and  for  which  they  specially  assembled,  being  the  Arian  controversy,  which 
produced  the  Creed,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Niccne  creed;  and  another 
thing  we  know  to  have  been  debaicd  by  them  was.— the  time  for  keeping 
Easter.  (See  Cave's  Lives  of  the  Fathers.)  And  though  Dupin,  and  others 
after  him,  may  contend  against  the  authenticity  of  the  acts;  yet  Lindanus, 
who  is  of  the  same  church,  as  eloquently  contends /or  it.    (Panopl.  lib.  2.  c.  G.) 


48      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

at  it,  till  he  was  given  to  understand  that  some  held  it  carnally. 
And  for  this  'on  diC  there  appears  to  be  no  trace  but  in  Euse- 
bius,  from  whom  Ludovicus  Vives  declares  Augustine  had  it. 
Eusebius  was  prejudiced  against  the  doctrine,  for  reasons  which 
will  be  presently  considered. 

We  finally  come  to  Jerome.  He  was  a  vehement  adversary 
of  the  doctrine;  but  whatever  his  own  prejudices  may  have 
been,  he  nevertheless  lets  fall  a  very  important  admission  as  to 
the  number  of  divines  who  continued  to  hold  it,  in  his  days. 
In  his  commentary  on  Jeremiah  xix.  10,  he  says,  <'that  he  durst 
not  cotidemn  the  doctrine,  because  many  ecclesiastical  persons 
and  martyrs  affirmed  tlie  same." 

Thus  the  sentiments  of  the  earlier  fathers  were  not  so  en- 
tirely corrupted,  during  this  period,  but  that  a  very  considera- 
ble number  of  Christians,  and  among  them,  as  we  have  seen, 
many  very  eminent  ecclesiastics,  still  maintained  the  same; 
whilst  the  adversaries  of  it  make  very  important  concessions.* 

4.  We  next  have  to  consider  the  voice  of  the  Church,  dur- 
ing that  long  period  of  darkness  which  elapsed  from  the  time 
of  Jerome  to  the  Reformation;  a  period  which  is  important 
and  interesting,  as  regai-ds  prophecij,  not  from  its  supplying  us 
with  evidence  in  behalf  of  the  primitive  mode  of  interpreta- 
tion; but  from  its  showing  how  that  evidence,  which  previously 
existed,  has  been  tampered  with  and  thrust  aside. 

We  have  already  seen',  that  a  new  character  was  given  to 
the  system  of  Scripture  exposition,  in  the  time  of  Origen;  and 
that  this  new  allegorizing  system  very  materially  affected  the 
prophecies.  But  another  circumstance  occurred  in  the  century 
following,  which  shortly  after  began  to  exercise  a  far  more 
considerable  influence  upon  the  interpretation  of  prophecy;  an 
influence  which  kept  gradually  but  rapidly  increasing,  till  in 
the  age  of  Jerome,  and  downward  through  the  papal  ages,  it 
prompted  men  to  resort  to  various  wicked  artifices,  in  order  to 
get  rid  of  the  primitive  inillennarian  doctrine.  This  event 
was  the  conversion  of  the  Romcm  emperor  to  the  Christian  faith. '\ 
It  was  the  uniform  and  co/istanl  opinion  of  the  church,  previous 
to  this  period,  that  Rome  would  become  the  seat  of  Anti- 

*  The  reader  will  find  copious  quotations  from  the  fathers  on  this  subject  in 
the  works  of  Merte,  Dr.  Homes  his  contcmporaiy,  Dr.  Whitby  and  Dr.  Bur- 
nett. If  he  cannot  obtain  the  larger  vvorks,  he  will  likewise  find  much  of 
them  extracted  in  a  modern  little  treatise,  'Thoughts  on  Miliennarinnism,'  by 
the  Rev.  W.  W.  Pym,  and  in  some  other  writers.  I  have  thought  it  needful, 
however,  in  thi?  instance,  to  refer  to  the  works  of  the  fathers  theni'selves,  and 
to  adduce,  in  some  instances,  passages  which  are  more  directly  applicible  to 
the  particular  point  in  hand,  than  those  which  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  above 
writers. 

t  The  date  of  Constantine's  conversion  is  variously  placed  at  a.  d.  306,  312, 
326  and  Xil.  Gibbon  is  disposed  to  date  it  from  the  the  Milan  edict,  in  favour 
of  Christianity,  tomewhcre  between  a.  d.  306  and  312.  Vol.  iii.  chap.  xx. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.        49 

CHRIST;  that  the  empire  would,  by  a  revolution,  be  first  divided 
into  ten  kingdoms,  that  then  Anticlirist  would  be  revealed  and 
prosper  for  a  time,  and  that,  after  the  reigning  power  should 
liave  suffered  a  signal  discomfiture,  the  dominion  should  be 
altogether  taken  from  "the  eternal  city."*  Such  a  notion 
could  not  be  palatable  to  the  Roman  emperor,  if  known  to 
him';  and  the  less  so  if  it  was  furllier  understood,  tliat  some,  in 
times  of  pagan  persecution,  had  already  mused  in  their  hearts, 
whether  the  emperor  himself  for  tiie  time  being  were  not  per- 
sonally the  antichrist.  These  things  must  have  been  very  per- 
plexing to  those  ecclesiastics,  now  mingling  with  the  court, 
who  were  of  a  compliant  and  secular  spirit:  which  may  be 
judged  of,  when  we  find  an  honest  and  bold,  and  godly  man, 
like  Lactantius,  now  expressing  himself  with  avowed  reluclaiKe 
on  these  topics.  He  says:  "The  Roman  power  which  now 
governs  the  world — (my  mind  dreads  to  declare  it;  yet  I  must 
speak  it,  because  it  will  surely  come  to  pass!)  the  Roman 
power  will  be  taken  airaij  from  the  earth,  and  the  empire  will 
return  into  Asia,  and  the  east  will  again  have  the  chief  domin- 
ion, and  the  west  will  be  in  subjection."  De  Instit.  cap.  xv. 

The  convenient  explication,  however,  was  soon  afterwards 
discovered,  and  adopted  by  many,  that  Antichrist  was  Paga?i 
Rome,  and  that  from  the  date  of  Constantine's  conversion  the 
viilleimium  commenced.  And  though  the  advocates  of  such 
an  opinion  were  obliged  to  maintain,  that  Satan  icas  boimd 
during  the  time  of  the  rancorous  dissensions  and  persecutions 
which  arose  in  the  Church  on  the  Arian  controversy;  and  not- 
withstanding those  daily  other  evils,  temptations  and  deceits 
constantly  experienced  during  the  supposed  thousand  years, 
and  of  which  Satan  must  necessarily  have  been  the  author;  yet 
able  men  were  found  to  maintain  such  an  interpretation!  yea, 
even  protestant  writers,  such  asGrotiusand  his  followers,  have, 
at  a  much  later  period,  a'dopted  the  opinion;  notwithstanding 
the  immensely  greater  improbability  with  which  theijlvAve  had 
to  contend,  viz.,  that  of  considering  the  darkest  period"of  papal 
history,  the  one  of  greatest  light  and  glory  to  the  Church! 

Among  those  who  in  the  reign  of  Constantine  may  be  justly 
suspected  of  time-serving,  was  Eusebius  the  historian,  bishop 
of  Pamphy  lia,  who  I)oasts  of  his  conversation  with  that  monarch ; 
and  as  from  him  appears  to  have  originally  sprung  the  obloquy 
which  was  cast  upon  the  Chiliusts,  (as  they  were  now  called,) 
it  is  necessary  to  bring  him  first  in  order  under  notice.  He 
does  not  directly  attack  the  doctrine  itself;  but  raises  questions 
on  the  canonical  authority  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  on  the  sup- 

♦  See  Jerome's  Commentary  on  Daniel  vii.  wherein  he  declares  the  uniform 
testimony  of  tne-father.s  on  this  head,  and  was  persuaded  of  it  himself. 


50      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

posed  author  of  the  millennarian  doctrine.  His  statements, 
however,  on  this  head  are  contradictory  and  absurd;  for  in  one 
place  he  seems  to  attribute  the  invention  of  it  to  the  heretic 
Cerinthus,  and  to  insinuate  that  the  early  upholders  of  tlie  doc- 
trine were  Ebionites;*  but  in  another  place  he  distinctly  says 
that  Papias  was  its  author,  and  that  by  the  generality,  {ttkuttci;) 
of  ecclesiastics  following  it  was  afterwards  received,  owing  to 
the  antiquity  of  the  man.  (lib.  iii.  sect.  39.)  Now  Papias  was 
no  ancient  to  his  oivii  generation;  and  though  Irenaeus,  in  the 
age  immediately  following,  speaks  of  him  as  having  declared 
certain  things  on  this  subject,  which  he  heard  from  the  apos- 
tle John;  yet  he  by  no  means  intimates  that  he  adopted  the 
doctrine  from  him;  nor  could  Irenaus  indeed  be  moved 
by  the  cmtiquity  of  a  man  who  flourished  only  about  fifty  years 
before  him.  Neither  is  there  a  shadow  of  evidence  that  any 
orthodox  ecclesiastics  in  the  first  two  centuries  did  otherwise 
than  hold  it.  Moreover,  when  Eusebius  is  speaking  of  the 
Millennarian  doctrine  of  Papias,  he  calls  him,  (as  we  have  be- 
fore noticed,)  a  manof  very  weak  intellect,  and  supposes  therefore 
that  he  must  have  misconceived  the  doctrine;  but  when  he  refers 
to  him  in  another  part  of  his  works  for  other  objects,  he  can 
admit  him  to  have  "enjoyed  great  fame  and  celebrity,"  and  to 
have  been  "a  man  most  eloquent  in  all  things,  and  skilful  in 
the  Scriptures."  Hist,  of  Euseb.  iii.  32. 

Further,  it  is  not  a  little  matter  that  Eusebius,  besides  having 
disparaged  the  authority  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  insinuated  that 
it  was  perhaps  the  work  of  Cerinthus  the  Ebionite,  was  de- 
cidedly tainted  with  the  Avian  heresy,  which  renders  his  views 
liable  to  suspicion  on  this  point  in  more  respects  than  the  one 
named.  The  Magdeburgensian  centuriators  thus  treat  of  him: 
"Being  now  about  to  say  some  iew  things  concerning  the  doc- 
trine of  Eusebius,  we  first  give  this  admonition,  that  Jerome 
every  where  holds  him  forth,  suspected  of  the  error  of  Arian- 
ism.  For  in  his  apology  against  Rufiinus  he  says  of  Eusebius, 
'that  he  was  indeed  a  most  learned  man,  but  not  a  Catholic; 
[i.  e.  according  to  the  usages  of  the  word  in  those  times,  not 
orthodox,]  and  throughout  six  of  his  books  did  continually  de- 
clare that  Origen  was  of  the  same  faith  with  him, — i.  e.  of  the 
Arian  falsehood."  Hist.  Eccles.  cap.  x.  sect.  3.  ]?ishop 
Jeremy  Taylor  in  his  'Liberty  of  Prophesying,'  not  only  says 
of  him,  that  he  entertained  Arian  sentiments;  but  that  he  is 
not  clear  of  a  suspicion  of  having  endeavoured  to  corrupt  and 

*  For  a  learned  and  able  refutation  of  Eusebius  on  this  point,  shewing  that 
Cerinthus  actually  never  did  hold  the  true  millennarian  doctrine,  and  that  the 
carnal  notions  really  held  b}'  him  were  not  held  by  Justvn,  Irenocus,  &c.  see 
Medes' Works. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      5^ 

falsify  the  Nicene  Creed,  (fol.  ed.  p.  954,)  which  will  account 
for  what  Scultetus  says  of  him,  that  though  immediately  after 
the  council  of  Nice  he  seemed  to  have  returned  to  his  right 
mind,  he  never  did  cordlalhj  hclicve  the  co-equality  of  Christ 
with  the  Fatlier.  Now  a  man  who  can  be  disingenuous  enough 
to  insinuate  that  Origen  v/as  of  the  same  faith  with  him;  who 
can  go  about  to  falsify  a  document  of  such  importance  as  the 
Nicene  Creed;  and  who  can  apparently  veer  round  in  his  opi- 
nions on  an  important  doctrine,  and  yet  in  heart  remain  of  the 
same  opinion  still;  may  justly  be  suspected  of  having  been 
influenced  in  his  change  of  sentiments  by  the  opinion  of  the 
emperor,  who,  in  the  council  of  Nice,  took  decidedly  against 
Arius.  And  yet,  it  is  on  the  credit  and  judgment  of  such  a 
man,  that  the  whole  weight  of  an  objection,  insignificant  in 
itself,  is  rested,* 

When  the  Christian  bishop  of  Rome  came,  in  progress  of 
time,  to  be  elevated  to  the  high  rank  which  he  attained  under 
the  papacy,  the  inconvenience  of  explaining  Rome  to  be  the 
capital  city  of  the  Antichrist,  and  the  'Babylon'  and  'Harlot'  of 
the  Apocalypse,  was  more  sensibly  felt  than  ever:  because  it 
could  not  be  asserted  without  giving  occasion  for  the  very  ob- 
vious conclusion,  that  the  bishop  of  Rome  would  some  day 
apostatize,  together  with  the  church  in  general  over  which  he 
was  the  head.  Accordingly,  from  the  time  of  Justinian,  ef- 
forts were  both  openly  and  clandestinely  made  to  get  rid  of 
the  doctrine  altogether,  by  removing  or  corrupting  the  evi- 
dence in  its  favour,  or  by  affixing  to  it  the  stigma  of  heresy. 
Pope  Damasus  endeavoured  peremptorily  to  put  it  down  by  a 
decree.  And  some  works  of  the  Fathers,  which  were  in  fa- 
vour of  it,  (such  as  the  works  of  Papias,  the  Treatise  of  Nepos 
already  adverted  to,  several  of  the  more  direct  works  of  Ire- 
naeus  on  the  subject,  Tertuilian's  treatise  on  Paraclise,i  and  va- 
rious others,)  were  successfully  suppressed;  and  in  regard  to 
those  which  could  not  be  so  well  withdrawn,  a  system-of  in- 
terpolating, or  otherwise  altering  the  text,  commenced,  which 
in  some  instances  has  affected  only  a  portion  of  the  manuscript 
copies  that  have  come  down  to  us,  and  in  other  instances  the 
entire  of  them. 

*  The  reader  wlio  wishes  to  see  other  authorities  in  proof  of  the  Arianism 
of  Eusebins,  may  consult — 'The  Resurrection  Revealed,' by  Dr.  Homes.  See 
ihe  revised  edition  of  1833,  p.  37;  also  the  works  of  Le  Clerc  and  Mosheim. 

t  Some  of  these  treatises,  by  showing  that  the  saints  are  not  perfectly  glori- 
fied at  death,  but  wait  for  the  time  when  the  Lord  shall  take  to  him  his  great 
power  and  reign,  were  found  also  to  conflict  against  the  growing  heresy  of  the 
invocation  of  saints  and  ansels,  so  profitable  to  the  Romish  church  in  after 
times:  and  Bellarmine  admits  (dc  Beat.  Sand.  Ord.  Diaput.)  that  the  notion 
of  the  saints  goii*g  immediately  to  heaven  on  their  death,  was  the  foundation 
of  it. 


52        ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

A  specimen  shall  be  given  first  from  the  works  of  Justyn 
Martyr.  That  passage  in  his  Dialogue  with  Trypho,  which 
has  already  been  in  part  adduced  (see  sect.  2.)  was  originally 
as  follows:  "I  am  not  such  a  wretch,  Trypho,  as  to  say  one 
thing  and  mean  another.  I  have  before  confessed  to  thee, 
that  I  and  many  others  are  of  this  opinion:  [viz.  that  Jerusalem 
shall  be  rebuilt,  and  the  saints  enjoy  a  happy  life  on  earth  with 
Christ:]  so  that  we  hold  it  to  be  thoroughly  proved  that  it  will 
come  to  pass.  But  I  have  also  signified  unto  thee,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  many — even  those  of  that  race  of  Christians  7vhofollozu 
not  godly  and  pure  doctri?ie — do  not  acknowledge  it.  For  1  have 
demonstrated  to  thee,  that  these  are  indeed  called  Christians; 
but  are  atheists  and  impious  heretics,  because  that  in  all  things 
they  teach  what  is  blasphemous,  and  ungodly,  and  unsound, 
&c.  If,  therefore,  you  fall  in  with  certain  who  are  called  Chris- 
tians who  confess  not  this  [truth,]  but  dare  to  blaspheme  the 
God  of  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  that  they  say  there 
is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead,  but  that,  immediately  they  die, 
their   souls   are  received  up  into    heaven,*  avoid   them,  and 

*  The  condition  of  separate  spirits,  between  the  period  of  death  and  the 
resurrection,  has  so  important  a  bearing  upon  the  Millennarian  doctrine,  that 
I  must  be  excused  if  I  here  notice  it  more  at  large.  I  have  shown,  in  another 
work,  {AbdicVs  Essays,  p.  93.)  that  the  believer  enjoys  at  death  a  conscious 
blessedness,  which  renders  it  better  for  him  to  depart  and  be  Avith  Christ,  than 
to  remain  in  the  body;  but  'it  is  equally  clear  from  scripture  and  from  the 
fathers,  that  the  believer  does  not  at  death  "ascend  into  the  heavens,"  any 
more  than  did  David;  (Acts  ii.  34.)  or  than  Christ  did  between  his  death  and 
resurrection;  who  went  to  paradise,  and  had  not  even  after  his  resurrection  yet 
ascended  unto  the  Father.  John  xx.  17.  It  is  very  plain,  from  the  testimony 
of  Justyn,  that  in  the  primitive  church  they  held  those  not  to  be  Christians, 
who  maintained  that  souls  are  received  up  into  heaven  immediately  after 
death.  Irenaeus  ranks  them,  in  his  work  against  Heresies,  (lib.  v.)  as  among 
the  heretical;  and  the  testimony  of  the  church  is  uniform  on  this  point,  (if  we 
except  some  questionable  passages  in  Cyprian)  down  into  Popish  times:  and 
it  was  indeed  the  general  opinion  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  down  to 
the  Council  of  Florence,  held  under  Pope  Eugenins  IV.  in  hW.  A  passage 
from  bishop  Taylor's  'Liberty  of  Prophesying,'  (sect,  viii.)  will  set  this  matter 
in  a  clear  light.  When  shewing  how  doctrines  of  antiquity  were  sometimes 
contradicted  in  subsequent  ages  by  councils,  or  by  some  ecclesiastic  of  power 
or  popularity,  he  says,  "That  is  a  plain  recession  from  antiquity,  which  was 
determined  "by  the  council  of  Florence — piorum  animaspurgatas,  t^c.  mox  in 
caelum  rccipi  ct  inlueri  dare  ipsum  Demi  irinum  et  unmn  sicuti  est;  {that  the 
souls  of  the  pious,  being  purified,  are  immediately  at  death  received  into  heaven ^ 
and  behold  clearly  the  triune  God  just  as  he  is:)  for  those  who  please  to  try  may 
see  it  dogmatically  resolved  to  the  contrary  by  Justyn  Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Origen, 
Chrysostome,  Theodoret,  Arethas  Cfrsariensis,  Euthymius,  who  may  answer 
for  the  Greek  church.  And  it  is  plain  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  Greek 
church,  by  that  great  difficulty  the  Romans  had  of  bringing  the  Greeks  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  Florentine  Council,  where  the  Latins  acted  their  master-piece  of 
■wit  and  stratagem,— the  greatest  that  hath  been  till  the  famous  and  super-poli- 
tic Council  of  Trent.  And  for  the  Latin  church,  Tcrtullian,  Ambrose,  Austin, 
Hilary,  Prudentius,  Lactantius,  Victorinus,  and  Bernard,  are  known  to  be  of 
opinion,  that  the  souls  of  the  saints  are  in  abditis  reccptaculis  ct  e.rlcrioribus 
atriis,  where  they  expect  the  resurrection  ol  their  bodies  and  the  glorification 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      53 

esteem  them  not  Christians.  But  I  and  whatsoever  Christians 
are  orthodox  {ofiicxva^uivu)  in  all  things,  do  know  that  there 
will  be  a  resurrection  of  the  flesh,  and  a  thousand  years  in  the 
city  of  Jerusalem,  built,  adorned,  and  enlarged,  according  as 
Ezekiel,  Isaiah,  and  other  prophets  have  promised."  Now  the 
above  passage,  had  it  been  left  untouched,  must  have  remained 
so  signal  and  obvious  a  testimony  to  the  orthodox  faith  in  his 
days,  that  the  Romish  church  must  at  once  have  been  con- 
victed of  having  departed  from  the  primitive  belief  in  this 
matter.  Accordingly,  the  passage  in  italics  has  been  altered, 
and  the  first  ^nol'  omitted.  Thus  it  appears  in  the  pr'mted 
copies  of  Justyn,  and  thus  it  was  in  most  of  the  manuscripts 
extant  in  the  seventeenth  century;  but  not  in  all.     For  Dr.  N. 


of  their  souls;  and  though  they  all  believe  them  to  be  happy,  yet  that  they 
enjoy  not  the  beatific  vision  before  the  resurrection." 

The  stratagem  employed  by  the  Romanists,  to  which  bishop  Taylor  alludes, 
is,  I  suppose,  the  fact  recorded  in  the  History  of  this  Council  by  Creighton, 
who  wrote  in  1G()0,  and  in  Geddes'  Jntrodiictory  Discourse  to  Vargas's  Letters; 
who  state,  that  the  pope  first  inveigled  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and 
some  of  his  clergy,  to  meet  him  at  a  Council  at  Ferrara,  which  he  then 
adroitly  adjourned  to  Florence:  and  when  the  Greek  ecclesiastics  pleaded  ina- 
bility to  bear  the  charges,  he  actually  defrayed  all  their  expenses  himself  The 
patriarch  died  at  Florence,  and  the  Greek  church  (according  to  Gaspar  Pence- 
rus)not  only  disowned  the  acts  of  the  clergy  present,  but  excommunicated 
them,  and  denied  them  Christian  burial. 

The  early  Reformers  maintained  the  primitive  faith  on  this  point,  plainly 
perceiving  that  the  object  of  the  Papists  was  to  help  forward  the  doctrine  of 
pursatof)/  and  invocation  of  saints.  Thus  Tyndal,  disputing  with  the  Papists, 
says:  "If  the  souls  be  in  heaven,  tell  me  why  they  be  not  in  as  good  case  as  the 
angels  be"?  and  then,  what  cause  is  there  of  the  resurrection!"  p.  3-24,  Works 
by  Fox.  And  afterwards,  in  reply  to  JVIore,  who  objects  against  Luther,  that 
his  doctrine  on  this  point  encouraged  the  sinner  to  continue  iu  sin,  seeing  it  so 
long  postponed  the  ultimate  judgment,  Tyndal  says:  "Christ  and  his  apostles 
taught  no  other,  but  warned  to  look  for  Chrisfs  coining  again  every  hour;  which 
coming  again,  because  ye  believe  it  will  never  be,  therefore  have  ye  feigned 
that  other  merchandize." 

Calvin  also,  in  his  Psijchopann%chia,  replies  thus  to  another  objection  against 
this  doctrine:  "I  answer  that  Christ  is  our  Hea.d,  rohose  kingdom  and' glorij 
have  not  yet  appeared.  If  the  members  were  to  go  before  the  head,  the  order  of 
things  would  be  inverted  and  preposterous.  But  we  shall  follow  00 r  Prince 
then,  when  he  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and  sit  upon  the  throne  of 
his  majesty."  p.  55. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  lamented  that  the  Protestant  church  of  a  later  period 
should  have  fallen  into  the  errors  of  the  Papists  oa  this  subject,  (abating  the 
distinct  acknowledgment  of  purgatory;  errors,  the  adopiiun  of  which  has 
done  more  than  any  other  thing  perhaps,  towards  witlidrawing  from  the 
Church  the  lively  expectation  of  Christ's  Advent. 

I  am  indebted  for  what  concerns  the  Council  of  Florence  in  the  above  state- 
ment, f  excepting  the  extract  from  Bishop  Taylor,)  to  an  anonymous  work 
entitlecl — "An  historical  view  of  the  Controversy  concerning  an  intermediate 
slate,  i^c.  between  death  and  the  resurrection;'''  a  work  written  with  no  great 
honesty  in  behalf  of  the  extreme  opinion  that  the  soul  is  in  a  state  of  uncon- 
sciousness and  perishes  at  death:  for  the  view  which  the  fathers  maintained 
on  this  particular  point  is  carefully  kept  back.  The  reader  who  desires  to  see 
more  of  the  te.*timony  of  the  fathers  may  consult  the  learned  work  of  Dr. 
Burnett,  De  statu,  Morluorum  ct  Rcsurgcnlium. 
VOL.    II. — 5 


54     ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Homes,  in  his  work  on  the  Resurrection,  testifies  to  having 
seen  some  without  it.  Fortunately,  however,  the  omission  of 
the  word,  (though  in  that  single  sentence  it  alters  the  meaning, 
and  makes  some  deniers  of  this  truth  followers  nevertheless  of 
**godly  and  pure  doctrine,")  has  the  effect  of  giving  to  the 
whole  passage  so  forced,  abrupt  and  obscure  an  aspect,  that 
none  can  read  it  with  attention  without  perceiving  how  contra- 
dictory it  is.*  For  how  could  any  be  followers,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  Justyn,  oi  pure  doctrine,  and  persons  oi  sound  judgment., 
who  received  not  this,  which  he  says,  all  who  are  orthodux  re- 
ceived? And  how  can  that  next  sentence:  "for  f  have  before 
demonstrated  to  thee,  that  these  are  indeed  called  Christians,  hut  are 
really  atheists,"  &c.  apply  (as  it  evidently  does,  if  the  ?iot  be 
omitted)  to  followers  of  that  which  is  godhj  and  purel 

There  is  apparently  another  suppression.  Justyn  alludes 
twice  in  this  passage  to  his  having  before  expressed  his  belief 
on  this  point,  and  also  demonstrated  the  ungodliness  of  those 
who  denied  it:  but  the  place  in  his  writings  where  such  a  pas- 
sage occurs,  is  not  to  be  found.  The  author  of  "Eruvin," 
(p.  190 — 193.)  supposes,  and  with  great  probability,  that  the 
de?iiers  of  the  doctrine,  whom  he  speaks  of  as  having  pointed 
out,  are  the  heretics  mentioned  in  a  passage  immediately  pre- 
vious: but  there  is  no  mention  in  that  passage  of  the  things 
concerning  which  Trypho  puts  the  question,  and  to  which 
Justyn  replies: — *'I  told  you  before,  that  I  and  many  others 
(as  indeed  you  well  know)  believe  that  these  things  will  take 
place;  and  I  also  stated,"  &c.  The  probability  then  is,  that  his 
sentiments  were  so  plainly  expressed  in  that  instance,  that  they 
could  not  be  made  to  speak  a  contrary  opinion,  merely  by 
the  eliding  some  convenient  monosyllable;  and  therefore  the 
passage  has  been  got  rid  of  entire.  At  any  rate  it  must  be 
viewed  as  a  particular  providence,  that,  owing  to  circumstances 
which  we  cannot  now  trace,  the  sentiments  of  Justyn  should 
have  been  preserved  to  such  an  extent  as  they  have  been:  an 
extent  still  sufficient  clearly  to  demonstrate  the  voice  of  the 
church  to  have  been  millenarian  in  the  earliest  Christian 
times.t 

*  The  extract  just  given  from  Justyn  is  as  lilerally  translated  from  the 
Greek  as  I  can  give  it;  two  parenthetical  sentences  only  being  left  out,  that  in 
no  way  affect  the  argiiment<  The  translator  into  Latin  of  the  Parisian  edition 
of  Justyn's  works,  labours  hard  to  give  a  sense  which  may  comport  with  the 
omission  of  the  word  not;  but  it  is  in  several  instancesnot  justified  by  the 
Greek.  It  is  amusing  also  to  observCj  how  puzzled  the  translator  is,  in  his 
notes,  to  account  for  obscurUics  which  appear  in  his  translation;  and  how 
astonished  he  is  at  the  harshness  of  Ireiucus,  for  going  further  than  Juslyn 
apparently  does  in  this  matter,  and  condemning  those  as  heretics  who  were  not 
millenarians;  whereas  they  actually  both  do  the  same  thing. 

t  It  was  apparently  with  a  fraudulent  intention  that  a  book,  entitled  "Glues- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      55 

It  may  appear  surprising,  that  the  work  of  Iremcus  should 
have  come  down  to  us  in  the  condition  it  has.  Some  of  his 
writings,  which  are  more  directly  on  this  subject,  are  lost 
altogether;  and  much  of  the  original  (Ircck  is  gone  from  that 
which  we  possess:  but  still  there  is  in  his  hook  "on  Heresies" 
matter  as  clear  and  tangible  to  the  point,  as  any  that  may  have 
been  suppressed  in  Justyn.  The  fact,  however,  is,  that  this 
work  actually  was  consigned  to  darkness,  during  the  long 
period  of  papal  supremacy,  and  was  supposed  to  be  lost,  the 
same  as  his  other  works;  but  at  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  a 
copy  of  it  was  discovered  by  Erasmus,  and  given  to  the  world. 
And  herein  the  providence  of  God  is  again  remarkable;  for 
had  a  decided  Protestant,  or  a  Millenarian,  have  found  and 
published  it,  somewhat  of  suspicion  might  have  attached  to  the 
circumstance,  so  far  as  the  passages  which  affect  this  question 
are  concerned;  but  Erasmus  continued  in  communion  with  the 
Romish  church,  and  yet  had  that  thirst  for  literature,  and  that 
looseness  in  his  opinions  in  many  points  of  popish  doctrine  and 
practice,  that  he  could  do  things  without  a  scruple,  which  a 
more  rigid  or  more  consistent  Papist  would  not  have  resolved 
upon. 

A  slur,  however,  is  thrown  upon  Irenseus,  in  consequence 
of  a  passage  in  his  book,  said  to  be  a  tradition  handed  down  by 
Papias, — a  passage  which  is  made  use  of  by  the  opposers  of 
millenarian  doctrine,  at  once  to  impugn  the  judgment  both  of 
Irenaeus  and  Papias  himself.     It  is  as  follows: — 

"The  elders  who  saw  John,  the  disciple  of  the  Lord,  have 
mentioned,  that  they  themselves  heard  of  him,  after  what  man- 
ner the  Lord  was  wont  to  teach  concerning  those  times,  [i.  e. 
of  the  Millennium,]  and  to  say:  *The  day  shall  come  when 
vines  shall  be  produced  each  with  ten  thousand  branches,  and 
in  each  branch  ten  thousand  shoots,  and  on  every  shoot  ten 
thousand  sprigs,  and  on  every  sprig  ten  thousand  bunches,  and 
on  every  bunch  ten  thousand  grapes,  and  every  grape  being 


tions  and  Answers  to  the  Orthodox,"  was  during  the  dark  ages  incorporated 
with  the  works  of  Justyn,  and  imputed  to  him  as  its  author.  But  critics  of 
later  times  have  so  far  done  justice  to  him,  that  in  most  instances  the  work  is 
now  separated  from  the  writings  of  Justyn;  the  circumstance  that  the  author, 
whoever  he  was,  advocates  the  Nestorian  heresy,  being  too  flagrant  an  ana- 
chronism to  pass  witii  any  wiio  are  at  lilierty  to  think  at  all.  It  is  but  justice, 
however,  to  the  anonymous  author  of  this  work,  to  observe,  that  there  are 
marks  in  it  which  lead  to  a  justifiable  suspicion  of  its  having  been  greatly  cor- 
rupted.  The  form  in  which  it  is  presented  tif  questions  and  answers  on  inde- 
pendent subjects,  afforded  an  easy  opportunity,  and  therefore  a  great  tempta- 
tion, in  tiiose  times,  to  interpolate  any  thing;  and  the  circumstance  that  some 
of  the  objectionable  passages  are  written  in  a  feeble  and  irrational  style,  whilst 
others  e-xhibit  great  penetration  into  the  meaning  of  Scripture,  shew  that  the 
opportunity  has  not  been  lost. 


56   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION; 

pressed  shall  yield  twenty-five  metretae  of  wine.  And  when 
one  shall  have  laid  hold  of  a  bunch,  another  shall  cry  out,  / 
am  a  better  bimch,  take  me;  by  me  bless  the  Lord.  In  like  man- 
ner also  that  a  corn  of  wheat  should  yield  ten  thousand  ears, 
and  every  ear  should  have  ten  thousand  corns,  and  every  corn 
ten  pounds  of  fine  clean  flour;  moreover  also  that  the  other 
kinds  of  fruit  and  seeds  and  herbs  should  in  a  like  manner 
according  to  their  nature  do  the  same.  And  that  all  animals 
living  on  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  should  become  peaceable,  and 
one  in  harmony  with  another,  being  subject  to  men  with  all 
subjection.'  Moreover,  Papias  also,  an  ancient,  'vho  was  an 
hearer  of  John,  and  a  companion  of  Polycarp,  bears  further 
testimony  to  these  things,  writing  in  his  fourth  book;  for  there 
are  five  books  which  he  composed,  and  he  (the  Lord,)  added 
saying,  Jsi'ozii  these  thi?igs  are  nwrthij  of  belief  ti?ito  the  believing. 
And  when  Judas  the  traitor  did  not  believe,  and  asked.  How 
then  are  such  things  to  be  efiected,  the  Lord  answered,  They 
shall  see  who  shall  come  to  those  days. 

On  this  passage  it  is  first  of  all  to  be  remarked,  that  the 
works  both  of  Polycarp  and  Papias  have  been  withdrawn  from 
the  light;  so  that  it  cannot  be  proved  to  be  genuine,  neither 
corrected,  from  their  actual  writings:  nor  have  we  the  Greek, 
in  this  instance,  of  Irenseus.  A  recent  author,  in  a  learned 
and  ver}'^  able  work  on  the  parables,*  surmises  that  in  the  ori- 
ginal, tlie  word  translated  decern  milliaw&s  /^upiug;  (vol.  i.  p.  296,) 
in  which  case  the  meaning  is  not  of  necessity  to  be  understood 
definitely  as  ten  thousand,  but  in  that  indefinite  sense,  in  which 
we  adopt  it  from  the  Greek  and  use  it,  when  we  say  myriads.^ 
This  is  a  highly  probable  conjecture,  and  takes  away  from  the 
passage  that  appearance  of  absurdity  which  has  excited  the 
profane  scoff  of  Doctors  Whitby  and  Middleton.J     When  we 

*  See  an  Exposition  of  the  Parables,  and  of  other  parts  of  the  Gospels,  by 
Edward  Grcsu-ell,  B.  D.,  Fellow  of  C.  C.C.  Oxford. 

+  Jude  V.  14,  would  be  more  in  the  spirit  of  the  original,  if  the  word  [xv^i^z 
were  retained  in  the  translation,  and  rendered,  "Behold  the  Lord  comcth  with 
myriads  of  his  saints'."  The  original  is  literally  ''with  his  holy  myriads,"  and 
at  the  least  it  should  be  rendered  "with  ten  thousands  of  his  saints,"  in  the 
plural;  as  the  definite  term  tcnthousand,  in  the  singular,  conveys  an  idea  quite 
foreign  from  the  original. 

+  The  latter  of  these  writers  furnishes  an  instance  that  the  art  of  interpola- 
ting and  corrupting  the  text  of  an  author,  when  the  subject  belbre  us  is  con- 
cerned, has  not  been  confined  to  papal  times.  In  "Dr.  Middleton's  Inquiry, 
&c."  page  20,  he  represents  Justyn  Martyr  as  saying:  "that  all  the  saints 
should  be  raised  in  the  flesh,  and  reign  with  Christ  in  Jerusalem,  enlarged 
and  beautified  in  a  wonderful  manner  for  their  reception,  in  ike  enjoyment  of 
all  sensval  pleasures,  for  1000  years  before  the  general  resurrection."  On 
which  Bishop  Newton  observes:  "But  in  the  original  there  is  no  such  clause 
as  that,  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  sensual  pleasures;  it  is  an  addition  and  interpo- 
lation of  the  doctor's  own,  in  order  to  depreciate  the  venerable  father.  And 
he  could  not  possibly  have  made  it  by  mistake;  he  must  have  done  it  designed- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       57 

are  informed  by  the  word  of  God,  that  the  land  of  Canaan, 
even  in  the  present  deteriorated  world,  has  produced  vines  of 
such  an  amazing  magnitude,  that  a  single  cluster  of  their  grapes 
was  obliged  to  be  borne  between  two  men  on  a  staff,*  (Num- 
bers xiii.  23.)  we  may  readily  conceive,  that  in  that  renewed 
state  of  the  earth,  in  which  the  prophets  declare  "that  the 
mountains  shall  drop  down  new  wine,  and  the  hills  flow  with 
milk,"  (Joel  iii.  IS.)  the  increased  productiveness  will  be  so 
prodigious,  that  were  our  Lord  now  to  declare  it  in  the  most 
precise  and  definite  terms,  it  would  exercise  the  faith  of  many 
a  believer.  And  even  supposing  the  original  to  agree  with  the 
Latin  translation  which  we  possess  of  Irenaeus,  and  that  we 
are  disposed  to  view  it  merely  as  an  hyperbole;  is  it  more  ex- 
travagant than  that  made  use  of  by  St.  John  in  regard  to  the 
actions  of  Christ,  ''that  if  they  were  all  written,  he  supposes 
that  even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain  the  books  that 
should  be  written?"     John  xxi.  25. 

Having  mentioned  that  the  above  saying,  attributed  to  our 
Lord  by  Irensus,  was  also  said  by  him  to  have  been  recorded 
by  Papias,  this  opportunity  may  be  taken  of  mentioning 
that  passage  in  Eusebius,  already  referred  to,  (page  Gl.)  in 
which  he  speaks  of  Papias  as  a  man  ''most  eloquent  in  all 
things  and  skilful  in  the  scriptures,"  has  been  omitted  in  many 
manuscript  copies,  and  consequently  is  not  to  be  found  in 
some  printed  editions  of  his  works  which  have  been  copied 
from  such  manuscripts;  but  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  more  an- 
cient manuscripts,  and  in  the  more  accurate  printed  copies, 
and,  consequently,  there  can  be  no  probable  reason  assigned 
for  its  omission  in  any;  excepting,  that  as  it  was  a  testimony 
in  favour  of  that  venerable  father,  so  it  appeared  to  be  in 
favour  of  the  doctrine  which  he  has  handed  down. 

We  come  next  to  TertuJlian,  whose  testimony  it  has  been 
attempted  to  weaken,  by  casting  upon  him  the  slur  of  Monta- 
vism,  he  having  been  a  follower  of  Montanus.  But  what  is 
Montanism?  According  to  some,  it  is  an  error  comprehend- 
ing every  species  of  indefinable  theological  evil,  that  the  iina- 
gination  of  man  can  apprehend;  but,  according  to  others,  it 
was  more  immediately  the  heresy  of  "commanding  to  abstain 
from   meats,"  as   being  unlawful  to   be  eaten.     Now  Bishop 

ly;  for  he  has  cited  the  original  as  far  as  to  that  clause,  and  there  stopping 
short  has  concealed  the  rest,  with  an  "&c."    Vol.  ii.  page  370. 

Dr.  Archibald  Maclaine,  likewise,  the  translator  ot  Mosheim's  Ecclesiasti- 
cal History,  makes  hiin  apparently  give  to  the  anti-millenarian  work  of  Dio- 
nysius,  written  against  Nepos,  the  title  of  ''learned  and  judicious;"  words  which 
have  no  existence  in  the  original,  and  which  the  translator  certainly  did  not 
add  from  his  actiml  knowledge  of  the  book  of  Dionysius  itself. 

♦  But  .see  note  in  Pictorial  Bible  on  this  verse. 
5* 


58        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Taylor,  in  his  Liberty  of  Prophecying,  brings  forward  this 
identical  case  of  Montanus,  in  order  to  illustrate  a  point  which 
he  has  in  hand;  viz.  to  show  the  obscure  and  very  unsatisfac- 
tory grounds  of  accusation,  against  some  who  were  considered 
heretics.  He  says:  "This  is  remarkable  in  the  case  of  Mon- 
tanus, the  scene  of  whose  heresy  lay  within  the  first  three 
hundred  years,  though  it  was  represented  in  the  catalogues  af- 
terwards; and  possibly  the  mistake  co?iceniifig  it  is  to  be  put 
upon  the  score  of  Epiphanius,  by  whom  Montanus  and  his 
followers  were  put  into  the  catalogue  of  heretics  for  command- 
ing abstinence  from  meats,  as  if  they  were  unclean,  and  of 
themselves  unlawful.  Now  the  truth  was,  Moiitanus  said  no 
such  thi?}g;  but  commanded  frequent  abstinence,  enjoined  dry 
diet  and  an  ascetic  table,  7wt  for  conscience  sake,  but  for  disci- 
pline: and  yet,  because  he  did  this  with  too  much  rigor  and 
strictness  of  mandate,  the  primitive  church  disliked  him,  as 
being  too  7iear  the  error  of  those,  who  by  a  Judaical  su]>ersti- 
tion,  abstained  from  meats  as  from  uncleanness,  &c.  They 
therefore  reprehended  Montanus  for  urging  such  abstinencies 
with  too  much  earnestness,  though  but  in  the  way  of  disci- 
pline: for  that  it  was  no  more,  Tertullian,  who  was  himself  a 
Montanist,  and  knew  best  the  opinions  of  his  own  sect,  testi- 
fies. And  yet  Epiphanius,  reporting  the  errors  of  Montanus, 
commends  that  which  Montanus  truly  and  really  taught,  and 
which  the  primitive  church  condemned  in  him,  and  therefore 
represents  that  heresy  in  another  sense;  and  affixes  that  to 
Montanus  which  Epiphanius  believed  a  heresy,  and  yet  which 
Montanus  did  ?iot  teach."  Sect.  ii.  IS.  In  regard  to  other 
errors  imputed  to  Montanus,  Lee  in  his  History  of  Montanism, 
(chap,  vii.,  as  republished  by  Dr.  Hick,)  shews  that  he  was 
grossly  aspersed  and  misrepresented;  and  the  eminent  John 
Wesley  observes  in  his  Journal  15th  Aug.  1750:  "13y  reflect- 
ing on  an  old  book  whicii  I  had  read  in  this  journey — (The 
General  Delusion  of  Christians,  ^-c. )  I  was  fully  convinced  of 
what  I  had  long  suspected,  that  the  Montanists  in  the  second 
and  third  centuries  were  real  scriptural  Christians.''  It  is 
farther  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  apologies  of  the  Montanists, 
(excepting  what  is  contained  favourable  to  them  in  Tertullian,) 
have  not  been  permitted  to  come  down  to  us;  and  after  the 
evidence  above  adduced  we  may  well  pause  before  we  brand 
them  with  the  name  of  heretics.  And  as  for  Tertullian,  Cy- 
prian it  is  said  never  passed  a  day  without  reading  some  por- 
tion of  his  works;  which,  at  least,  shews  the  great  estimation 
in  which  he  was  held:  and  whatever  were  his  errors,  we  know 
that  he  at  least  drew  after  him  the  fairest  portion  of  the  Chris- 
tian church. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      59 

As  Tertullian  has  been  charged  with  holding  the  liercsy  of 
ISlontanisni,  so  Lactantius  was  also  accused  in  the  dark  ages, 
by  the  adversaries  of  millenarian  doctrine,  of  holding  the 
heresy  of  the  Mainchees;  of  whicii,  liowcver,  he  has  been 
most  satisfactorily  cleared  by  Dr.  Lardner,  in  his  Credibilili/  of 
the  Gospel,  vol.  vii.  He  has  also  been  charged  with  hokling 
sentiments  on  the  prophetical  point  in  hand,  most  incompati- 
ble with  his  piety  and  talents,  viz.  "that  the  saints  shall,  in  the 
millennium,  have  a  great  enjoyment  of  carnal  and  corporeal 
pleasures."  The  accusation,  however,  rests  in  this  instance, 
not  upon  any  corruption  of  the  text  of  his  works,  but  on  a 
false  representation  of  his  opinions  given  by  Jci-ome.  The 
words  of  Lactantius  are  as  follow: — "Tiicn  they  whicli  shall 
be  alive  in  their  bodies  [meaning  those  persons  who  shall  re- 
main in  the  flesh,  and  unchanged  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord] 
shall  not  die,  but  shall  generate  for  the  space  of  those  thousand 
years  an  infinite  multitude;  and  their  offspring  shall  be  holy 
and  dear  to  God.  But  those  that  shall  be  raised  from  the  dead 
[here  distinguishing  the  resurrection  saints]  shall  rule  over  them 
that  are  alive  in  tiie  manner  of  judges."  The  same  doctrine 
is  set  forth  by  Irenasus,  and  we  will  therefore  hope,  in  justice 
to  the  character  of  Jerome,  that  he  did  not  understand  the  sen- 
timents of  Lactantius;  whilst  the  opponents  of  the  doctrine  ia 
later  limes  have  blindly  reiterated  the  charge  from  Jerome, 
without  ever  candidly  quoting  the  real  opinions  of  Lactantius.* 

The  learned  Joseph  JNIede  asserts,  (!)ut  I  have  not  discover- 
ed his  authority  for  it,)  that  the  writings  of  A'ictorinus  and 
Sulpicius,  who  maintained  millenarian  ojiinions,  were  author- 
itatively suppressed  by  Pope  Damascus.  Works,  p.  664.  And 
it  is  but  reasonable  to  suppose,  that,  when  the  power  of  the 
popes  became  more  absolute,  they  would  exercise  it  more  ty- 
rannically and  effectually  i"or  the  suppression  of  these  opinions. 
It  was  but  to  affix  the  imputation  of  heresy,  and  their  writings 
•were  immediately  seized,  and  either  destroyed,  or  in  some 
other  way  abstracted  from  public  view:  which '  sufficiently 
accounts  for  the  paucity  of  evidence,  either  on  one  side  the 
question  or  the  otlier,  during  the  middle  and  dark  ages  of  the 
church.  For  these  opinions  were  not  controverted  b}^  fair 
and  open  discussion,  but  were  arbitrarily  put  down.  And  thus 
it  happens  that  in  regard  to  some  of  those  sects  which  were 
persecuted  in  those  ages  (as  the  Leonists,  the  Paulicians^  &c.) 

♦  Mr.  Mede  indeed  states,  "that  Jerome  was  a  chief  champion  to  cry  down 
this  opinion,  and  a  most  unequal  rclalcr  of  the  opinions  of  his  adversaries;" 
and  he  adds,  '-What  credit  he  deserves  in  this  instance  may  appear  by  some 
fragments  of  those  authors  still  rcmainini^,  whom  he  charged  wiih  an  opinion 
directly  contrary toAhot  tckick  they  trprcssly  affrmed.''    See  his  Works,  fulio,  p. 


(50        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

scarcely  any  more  has  come  down  to  us  than  that  they  were  a 
numerous  body  of  Christians,  who  were  held  in  detestation  by 
the  popes  on  account  of  their  obstinate  dissent  from  the  doc- 
trines of  the  church  of  Rome.  Now  and  then  indeed,  the 
evidence  of  what  was  entertained  privately,  as  it  were,  by 
Christians,  peeps  out,  even  by  the  admission  of  Roman  Catho- 
lics themselves.  Thus  Lorinus  the  Jesuit,  speaks,  in  his  com- 
mentary, of  one  Tully  Crispold,  whom  he  considers  a  pious 
man;  "but  he  marvels  to  find  kim,  in  his  manuscript  annotations 
on  the  scriptures,  which  were  in  the  library  of  the  monastery 
to  which  Lorinus  belonged,  expressing  himself  as  expecting 
Jerusalem  to  be  restored  on  earth  with  sacrifices,  in  the  way 
of  commemoration,  and  expecting  also  the  apostles  to  be  then 
existing  on  earth,  and  Christ  appearing,  at  least  occasionally, 
(saltern  aluiiiando)  and  communing  with  them,"  &c.  So,  like- 
wise, though  great  pains  had  been  taken  to  instil  into  the  minds 
of  the  people  that  antichrist  had  already  appeared,  and  was  now 
engulphed  in  the  lake  of  fire,  it  appears  nevertheless  from 
Baronius,  Sabellicus,  and  Platina,  all  Roman  Catholic  authors, 
that  in  the  year  HOG  a  very  general  opinion  prevailed,  that 
Antichrist  was  about  to  appear.  Pope  Pascal  II.  was  first  in- 
formed of  it  at  Florence,  and  contented  himself  at  the  time 
with  reproving  the  bishop,  and  treating  the  whole  with  deri- 
sion; though  Baronius  asserts  that  it  was  an  opinion  entertained 
by  men  of  no  ordinary  stamp;  instancing  Norbert  a  man  of 
first  eminence  for  piety  and  talents.  Pascal,  however,  was 
presently  after  annoyed  by  finding  the  opinion  in  various  other 
places  during  his  journey;  which  was  the  more  confirmed  (as 
Sabellicus  states)  by  the  extraordinary  natural  phenomena  and 
heavenly  signs  which  then  appeared.* 

In  this  manner  was  the  doctrine  of  the  millennium,  and  all 
that  inimcdiately  concerned  the  revelation  of  Antichrist  (so 
immediately  connected  with  it,)  corrupted,  misrepresented, 
slandered,  or  suppressed.  On  which  Bishop  Newton,  in  his 
xxvlh  Dissertation  on  the  Prophecies,  has  some  observations 
so  pertinent  and  judicious,  that  they  will  serve  admirably  for 
a  conclusion  to  this  section.  He  says,  "In  short  the  doctrine 
of  the  millennium  was  generally  believed  in  the  three  first  and 
purest  ages;  and  this  belief,  as  the  learned  Dodwell  has  justly 
observed,  was  one  principal  cause  of  the  fortitude  of  the 
primitive  Christians;  they  even  coveted  martyrdom,  in  hopes 
of  being  partakers  of  the  privileges  and  glories  of  the  martyrs 
in  the  first  resurrection.! 

♦  See  more  in  Mede,  lib.  iii.  p.  887. 

+  Jam  in  millcnnii  regno  primani  fore  resurrcctionemcorponim  crcdiderunt 
primaevi  Christiaiii.  Et  ut  ju.storurr)  propriam  cam  crcdiderunt  resurrectionem, 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.        (JJ 

"Afterwards  this  doctrine  grew  into  disrepute  for  various 
reasons.  Some  both  Jewish  and  Ciiristian  writers  have  debased 
it  with  a  mixture  of  fables;  they  liave  described  the  kingdom 
more  like  a  sensual  than  a  spiritual  kingdom,  and  thereby  they 
have  not  only  exposed  themselves,  hut,  (what  is  infinitely 
worse)  the  doctrine  itself  to  contempt  and  ridicule.  It  hath 
suflered  by  the  misrepresentations  of  its  enemies,  as  well  as  by 
the  indiscretions  of  its  friends;  many,  like  Jerome,  have 
charged  the  millenarians  with  absurd  and  impious  opinions 
which  they  never  held;  and  rather  than  they  would  admit  the 
truth  of  the  doctrine,  they  have  not  scrupled  to  call  into  ques- 
tion the  genuineness  of  the  book  of  the  Revelation.*  It  hath 
been  abused  even  to  worse  purposes;  it  hath  been  made  an  en- 
gine of  faction;  and  turbulent  fanatics,  under  the  pretence  of 
saints,  have  aspired  to  dominion,  and  disturbed  the  peace  of 
civil  society.  Besides,  wherever  the  influence  and  authority 
of  the  church  of  Rome  have  extended,  she  hath  endeavoured 
by  all  means  to  discredit  this  doctrine;  and  indeed  not  without 
sulHcient  reason,  tiiis  kingdom  of  Christ  being  founded  on  the 
ruins  of  the  kingdom  of  Antichrist.  No  wonder  therefore 
that  this  doctrine  lay  depressed  for  many  ages;  but  it  sprang 
up  again  at  the  Reformation,  and  will  flourish  together  with 
the  study  of  the  Revelation.  All  the  danger  is,  on  one  side, 
of  pruning  and  lopping  it  too  short;  and,  on  the  other,  of  suf- 
fering it  to  grow  too  wild  and  luxuriant.  Great  caution, 
soberness,  and  judgment  are  required  to  keep  the  middle  course. 
We  should  neither,  with  some,  interpret  it  into  an  allegory, 
nor  depart  from  the  literal  sense  of  scripture  without  absolute 
necessity  for  so  doing.  Neither  should  we,  with  others,  indulge 
an  extravagant  fancy,  nor  explain  too  cUriously  the  manner  and 
circumstances  of  this  future  state.  It  is  safest  and  best  faith- 
fully to  adhere  to  the  words  of  scripture,  or  to  fair  deductions 
from  scripture;  and  to  rest  contented  with  the  general  account, 
till  time  shall  accomplish  and  eclaircise  all  the  particulars." 

5.  When  Bishop  Newton  asserts,  and  truly  asserts,  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  millennium  was  revived  at  the  Reformation, 
something  must  nevertheless  be  oficred  in  the  way  of  explana- 


ita  mnrt yrum  in  ea  portionem  longe  esse  prEecipuara.  Here  cum  ita  crederen- 
tur,  dicinequit  quantum  niarlyrcs  illiut  :i;tatis  martyrii  studio  inHammarint. 
[The  primitive  Christians  believed  that  the  first  resurrection  of  their  bodies 
would  take  place  in  the  kingdom  of  the  millennium.  And  as  they  considered 
that  resurrection  to  be  peculiar  to  the  just,  so  they  conceived  the  martyrs 
would  enjoy  the  principal  share  of  its  glory.  Since  these  opinions  were  en- 
tertained, it  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  were  inflamed  with  the  desire  of 
martyrdom.]  Dodwelli  Di.ssert.  Cyprian,  xii.  De  Martyrum  fortitudine,  sect. 
20,  21. 

*  See  Mede's  Works,  b.  5.  chap.  5.  D.  Hieronymi  Pronunciata  de  Dograate 
millennariurum,  p.  897. 


go      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

tion,  lest  the  reader  should,  in  some  respects,  misapprehend 
his  statement. 

So  far  as  regards  the  belief  in  the  period  of  "the  thoiisaj^d 
years"  triumph  of  the  church,  mentioned  in  the  Apocalypse,  it 
does  not  appear  that  the  earlier  reformers  did  generally  main- 
tain it:  for  the  papacy  had  succeeded,  by  mis-representing  the 
fathers,  and  by  imputing  to  them  the  carnalities  of  Cerinthus, 
in  making  the  words  chiliast  and  niiUe?niari/,  an  effectual  object 
of  terror.*  The  attention  however  which  was  given  at  this 
period  to  the  pure  word  of  God,  and  the  beams  of  divine  truth 
■which  now,  in  consequence  re-illumined  the  christian  church, 
necessarily  brought  the  essentials  of  prophetical  doctrine,  con- 
tained in  the  covenants  of  promise,  before  the  view  of  the 
saints  of  God:  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  therefore,  that  whilst 
the  single  tenet  of  the  thousand  years  was,  by  the  generality, 
carefully  avoided,  all  the  important  truths  connected  there- 
with,— as  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  set  up  a 
glorious  kingdom  on  earth,  in  which  all  the  saints  should  par- 
take, the  dead  being  raised  and  the  living  changed;  the  literal 
restoration  of  the  Jews,  to  the  literal  Canaan,  the  earth  being 
then  renewed  and  Jerusalem  rebuilt;  and  the  previous  mani- 
festation and  destruction  of  antichrist; — were  almost  univer- 
sally entertained  by  the  reformers. 

In  consequence  of  their  partial  misapprehension  of  the  sub- 
ject, as  regards  the  thousand  years,  it  often  happens,  that  the 
earlier  reformers  warmly  deprecate  chlliasm  in  one  page  of 
their  writings,  whilst  in  another  they  will  avow  what,  in  the 
present  day,  would  generally  be  considered  decided  millena- 
rian  doctrine.  An  instance  shall  be  given  from  the  works  of 
Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor,  who  though  a  writer  of  a  somewhat 
later  period,  very  well  serves  to  illustrate  the  point  in  hand. 
In  section  ii.  of  his  "Liberty  of  Prophecying,"  he  observes 
"that  the  doctrine  of  the  millenaries  was  in  the  best  ages 
esteemed  no  heresy,  but  true  catholic  doctrine:  though  since  then 
it  hath  had  justice  done  it,  and  hath  suffered  a  just  condemna- 
tion!''  Yet  in  his  Sermon  on  1  Cor.  xv.  23.  he  decidedly 
argues  from  these  words,  "every  man  in  his  own  order,"  &c., 
that  there  is  to  be  a  resurrection  of  the  just,  prior  in  time  to 
the  resurrection  of  the  wicked  and  to  take  place  at  the  advent 
of  Christ;  and  that  though  this  place  speaks  directly  and  ex- 
plicitly only  of  the  resurrection  oi'  the  just,  (i.  e.  of  "those  that 
are  Christ's,")  yet,  because  it  also  says,  there  shall  be  an  order 

*  The  reader  will  pardon  my  explaining  here,  for  the  benefit  of  the  un- 
learned, that  chiliad  is  a  Greek  word,  signifying  one  who  believed  in  the  Ihou- 
sa7id  years  of  Rev.  xx.  4.  as  yet  future;  and  riiillciinary,ox  niillenarian,  is  a 
latin  word  (or  rather  compounded  of  latin  and  greek)  of  similar  import. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      (J3 

for  "every  man,"  and  yet  every  man  does  not  belong  to 
Christ,  therefore,  indirectly,  it  likewise  implies  "the  more 
ujHversal  resurrection  unto  judgment,  wherein  the  wicked  also 
shall  rise  to  condemnation."  Now  to  admit  a  distinction  in 
the  resurrection  to  the  extent  here  conceded,  is  to  admit  a  car- 
dinal point  of  millenarian  doctrine,  such  as  it  is  fully  under- 
stood in  the  present  day  cannot  be  maintained,  without  leading 
to  the  reception  of  the  remainder.  And  how  are  we,  there- 
fore, to  account  for  the  apparent  contradiction  in  so  acute  a 
reasoner  as  Bishop  Taylor,  between  the  language  of  this  ser- 
mon and  the  words  which  have  been  quoted  from  the  former 
work?  It  will  explain  itself  by  the  fact,  that  in  the  fifth  sec- 
tion of  that  work  he  ranks  Origen  among  the  decided  mille- 
narians,  as  indeed  some  others  have  likewise  done.  He  adduces 
no  proof  oi  it;  but  it  is  doubtless  because  Origen  lets  drop  his 
expectation  of  the  renovation  of  all  things  in  the  seventh  mille- 
nary of  the  world. 

In  regard  to  the  national  restoration  of  the  Jercs,  a  belief  of  this 
important  feature  of  prophecy  was  retained,  even  during  the 
period  of  the  decline  of  millenarian  doctrine,  by  many  of  those 
ecclesiastical  men  who  had  become  prejudiced  on  other  points. 
But  though  this  tenet  also,  cannot  be  consistently  held  by  those, 
who  deny  the  resurrection  of  the  saints  to  a  reign  on  earth; 
yet  it  is  not  so  immediately  discernible,  that  to  hold  the  one 
opinion  is,  of  necessity,  indirectly  to  admit  the  other:  to  which 
circumstance  it  is  perhaps  owing,  that  this  portion  of  divine 
truth  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  the  odium  attached  to 
other  millenarian  tenets,  and  never  to  have  been  controverted, 
at  any  time,  by  any  considerable  party  in  the  church.  Lori- 
nus,  the  Jesuit,  noticed  before,  says  (in  his  comment  on  Acts 
i.  6.)  that  Cyprian,  Jerome,  Chrysostom,  Theophilus,  Alexan- 
drinus,  Augustine  and  Bedc,  understood  this  place  to  refer  to 
that  literal  restoration  of  the  Jews,  mentioned  in  scripture; 
though  these  fathers  are  either  neutral  or  opposed,  as  regards 
other  tenets.*  Cornelius  Alapide,  another  popish  writer,  men- 
tions, in  addition  to  those  enumerated  above,  Hugo  and  Lyra, 
as  likewise  holding  it.  Dean  Prideaux,  who  was  anti-millena- 
rian,  both  as  regards  the  thousand  years  and  the  personal  reign, 
maintained,  nevertheless,  the  literal  restoration  of  the  Jews; 

*  It  may  here  be  observed,  that  Lorinus  has  himself  the  wit  to  perceive  the 
tendency  of  such  an  opinion.  For  he  says,  in  the  same  place,  that  "he  could 
tolerate  thi.>  error  in  the  disciples  of  Christ,  but  noit/tcn  (at  the  period  when  he 
was  writing:)  because  it  leads  to  the  heresy  of  chiliasm,  wliich  Pope  Damascus 
had  condemned  in  Appollinaris."  It  is  not,  therefore,  because  he  can  disprove 
this  opinion,  that  ^le  will  not  tolerate  it;  but  becau.se  millenarian  tenets  had 
been  condemned  by  the  pope.  Perhaps  it  is  the  testimony  of  Lorinus,  on  which 
Mcde  states  that  Pope  Damascus  condemned  these  opinions.    See  page  71. 


Q4      ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

and  cites  as  authorities  the  farther  testimony  of  Hilary,  Am- 
brose, Aquinas,  Scotus  and  Cajetan,  of  those  who  were  his 
predecessors;  and  among  more  modern  writers  and  contem- 
poraries, Peter  Martyr,  Grinaeus,  Beza,  Pareus,  and  Dr.  Wil- 
let.  *  Similar  evidence  is  to  be  found  in  Rivet  and  Zanchy, 
on  Hosea,  and  in  many  others;  but  sufficient  has  been  adduced 
amply  to  prove,  what  the  Voice  of  the  Church  has  been,  in 
regard  to  this  point,  in  all  ages;  which  is  farther  important,  as 
illustrating  likewise,  in  a  striking  manner,  how  the  promises 
made  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  must  have  been  understood 
by  this  "cloud  of  witnesses."! 

Next,  in  regard  to  the  expectation  of  a  future  glorious  king- 
dom of  God  on  the  renewed  earth,  and  the  reign  of  Christ  and 
his  saints  therein;  which  are  most  important  and  principal  fea- 
tures of  the  millenarian  view  of  prophecy,  quite  independent 
of  the  single  question  of  the  thousand  years;  let  us  observe  the 
testimony  of  the  early  reformers  on  this  point. 

The  quotations  given  at  page  65,  (see  Note,)  sufficiently  tes- 
tify of  Tyndal,  Luther  and  Calvin,  that  they,  at  least,  looked 
for  the  reward  of  the  righteous  to  be  given  at  the  Lord's 
advent,  and  denied  that  they  had,  as  yet,  been  made  partakers 
of  the  promise.  This  is  important,  if  not  as  proving  their 
expectation  of  a  personal  reign  of  Christ  on  earth,  yet  as  show- 
ing that  they  postponed,  the  time  of  the  manifestation  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  until  his  appearing;  in  opposition  to  the 
modern  dogma  which  has  so  generally  obtained,  that  the  be- 
liever enters  into  his  rest  immediately  at  death.  And  it  appears 
strictly  in  harmony  with  the  reasoning  of  St.  Paul  in  Heb.  xi. 
compared  with  1  Thess.  iv.  For  in  the  former  place,  lest  any 
should  suppose  that  the  Jewish  saints  are  now  with  their  Lord 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  kingdom  promised,  (in  which  case  it 
were  plain,  that  the  saints  now  on  earth  would  for  the  present 
be  excluded  from  it,)  he  prevents  such  a  conclusion  by  assert- 
ing, that  "these  a//"  (instancing  by  name  Noah,  Abraham, 
Moses,  David,  and  others)  "having  obtained  a  good  report  (that 
is,  home  witness,  iuaf,Tvf»,eivTii)  through  faith,  received  7iot  the  pro- 

*  See  his  Inaugural  Oration.  Prideaiix  was  of  the  next  century;  but  his  tes- 
timony on  this  point  belongs  to  the  icholc  period  of  the  history  of  the  church. 

t  Mention  maybe  made  likewise  of  the  eminent  Dr.  J.  Owen,  because  his 
works  abound  with  passages  which  are  taken  in  a  spiritual  sense,  in  opposition 
to  the  literal  acceptation  of  them  by  millcnarians.  In  the  headings,  however, 
to  Powell's  Concordance,  which,  with  the  preface  are  attributed  to  Dr.  Owen, 
it  is  admitted,  "that  the  Jews,  being  restored  to  the  faith  of  Clirist,  shall  be 
formed  into  a  state,  and  have  judges  and  counsellors  over  them  as  formerly; 
the  Lord  Christ  himself  being  their  king,  who  shall  then  also  be  acknowledged 
over  all  the  earth,''  "that  Jerusalem  shall  be  rebuilt,  and  after  the  full  resto- 
ration of  the  Jews  shall  never  be  destroyed,  nor  infested  with  enemies  any- 
more;" "that  a  little  before  the  time  of  the  call  and  conversion  of  the  Jews, 
there  shall  be  great  wars,  confusion,  and  desolation  throughout  all  the  earth." 


ELExMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.        55 

mise;  God  having  provided  some  better  thing  for  us,  that  they 
without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect."  And  in  the  latter 
place,  lest  it  should  be  supposed  that  those  saints  only  who 
shall  be  alive  at  the  commencement  of  the  JNIillennium  are  to 
enjoy  the  promise  of  the  kingdom,  (in  which  case  it  were 
plain,  that  the  departed  saints,  both  Jewish  and  Gentile,  would 
all  be  excluded,)  he  assures  us,  ''that  those  which  shall  be  alive 
and  remain  at  tlie  coming  of  the  Lord  shall  not  prevctit  them 
which  are  asleep,  (v.  15.)  but  that  the  Lord  will  then  raise 
them  up,  and  bring  them  with  him. 

But  there  exists  more  explicit  evidence  of  the  general  voice 
of  the  Church  on  this  point,  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation. 
In  the  Catechism  published  in  tiie  reign  of  King  Edward  VI. 
which  IJurnet  declares  in  his  History  (vol.  iii.  book  4.)  that 
Cranmer  owned  to  be  his;  and  which  Catechism,  whosoever 
was  the  author  of  it,*  was  sanctioned  by  certain  chief  ecclesi- 
astics of  that  day,t  there  are  the  following  passages: — 

"2.  How  is  that  petition,  77;?/  kingdom  come,  to  be  understood? 

'^Ans.  We  ask  that  his  kingdom  may  come,  because  that 
as  yet  we  see  not  all  things  subject  to  Christ;  we  see  not  yet 
how  the  stone  is  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  human  help, 
which  breaks  into  pieces  and  reduces  to  nothing  the  image 
described  by  Daniel:  or  how  the  only  rock,  which  is  Christ, 
doth  possess  and  obtain  the  empire  of  the  whole  world,  given 
him  of  the  Father.  As  yet  Antichrist  is  not  slain;  whence 
it  is  that  we  desire  and  pray,  that  at  length  it  may  come  to 
pass  and  be  fulfilled;  and  that  Christ  alone  may  reign  with  his 
saints,  according  to  the  divine  promises;  and  that  he  may  live 
and  have  dominion  in  the  world,  according  to  the  decrees  of 
the  holy  gospel,  and  not  according  to  the  traditions  and  laws 
of  men,  and  the  wills  of  the  tyrants  of  the  world." 

**Q.  The  Sacred  Scriptyre  calls  the  end  of  the  world  the 
consummation  and  perfection  of  the  mystery  of  Christ,  and 
the  renovation  of  all  things:  for  thus  the  apostle  Peter  speaks, 
in  his  second  epistle,  chap.  iii.  'We  expect  now  heavens  and 
a  new  earth,  according  to  God's  promise,  wherein  dwclleth 
righteousness.'  And  it  seems  agreeaiile  to  reason,  that  the 
corruption,  mutability  and  sin,  to  which  the  whole  world  is 
subject,  should  at  least  cease.  Now  by  what  means  or  circum- 
stances those  things  shall  be  brought  to  pass,  I  desire  to  know 
of  thee? 

*  Neale  states  it  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  Poynet,  afterwards  bishop  of 
Winchester;  but  without  giving  his  authority.     Hist.  Purit.  vol.  i.  p.  (53. 

t  This  is  evident  from  the  King's  Letter,  prefixed  to  the  Latin  edition  ol 
1553.    "Cum  brevis  et  explicata  Catechisrai  ratio,  a  pio  quodam  ct  crudito  viro 
conscripta,  nobisiad  cognoscendum  olferretur,  ejus  pertractationem  et  diligen- 
tem  inquisitionem  quibusdam  cpiscopis  et  aliiscrudUis  commissimus,  &c."  " 
VOL.   II. — G 


55      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

"Arts.  I  will  declare,  as  well  as  I  can,  the  same  apostle 
attesting.  The  heavens,  in  the  manner  of  a  stormy  tempest, 
shall  pass  away,  and  the  elements,  estuating,  shall  be  dissolved, 
and  the  earth  and  the  works  therein  shall  be  burnt.  As  if  the 
Apostle  should  say.  The  world,  like  as  we  see  in  the  refining 
of  gold,  shall  be  wholly  purged  with  fire,  and  shall  be  brought 
to  its  utmost  perfection;  which  the  little  world  man,  imitating, 
shall  likewise  be  freed  from  corruption  and  change.  And  so, 
for  man's  sake,  for  whose  use  the  great  world  was  created, 
being  at  length  renovated,  it  shall  put  on  a  face  that  shall  be 
far  more  pleasant  and  beautiful."* 

Next  may  be  instanced  the  views  of  Bishop  Latimer.  Hav- 
ing spoken,  in  his  third  Sermon  on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  of  a 
future  parliame?it  differing  from  the  parliaments  of  this  world: 
"A  parliament  in  which  Christ  shall  bear  the  rule,  and  not 
men;  and  which  the  righteous  pray  for  whenthey  say,  'Thy 
kingdom  come,''  because  they  know  that  therein  reformation  of 
all  things  shall  be  had:"  he  presently  after  has  these  words, 
*'Let  us  therefore  have  a  desire  that  this  day  may  come  quickly ; 
let  us  hasten  God  forward;  let  us  cry  unto  him  day  and  night, 
^Most  merciful  Father,  thy  kingdom  come.'  St.  Paul  saith,  'The 
Lord  will  not  come  till  the  swerving  from  the  faith  cometh,' 
(2  Thess.  ii.  3.)  which  thing  is  already  done  and  past:  Antichrist 
is  already  known  throughout  all  the  world.  Wherefore  the 
day  is  not  far  off.  Let  us  beware,  for  it  will  one  day  fall  on  our 
heads.  St.  Peter  saith,  'The  end  of  all  things  draweth  very 
near.'  St.  Peter  said  so  at  his  time:  how  much  more  shall  tee 
say  so?  for  it  is  a  long  time  since  St.  Peter  spake  these  words. 
The  world  was  ordained  to  endure  (as  all  learned  men  affirm, 
and  prove  it  with  Scripture)  six  thousand  years.  Now  of  that 
number  there  be  passed  5552  years;  so  there  is  no  more  left 
but  448  years.  And,  furthermore,  those  days  shall  he  shortened; 
it  shall  not  be  full  six  thousand  years;  the  days  shall  be  "short- 
ened for  the  elect's  sake."  Therefore  all  those  excellent  and 
learned  men,  which,  without  doubt,  God  hath  sent  into  this 

*  There  are  some  expressions  in  the  Catechism  apparently  opposed  to  the 
personal  and  visible  reign  of  Christ,  whicli  precede  the  extracts  above  given. 
In  answer  to  the  inquiry,  "Why  Christ  went  to  Heaven?  it  is  said,  "The  chief 
cause  thereof  was  to  pluck  out  of  us  that  false  opinion  which  sometime  de- 
ceived the  apostles  themselves;  that  Christ  should  in  earth  visibly  reign  as 
kings  and  rulHing  princes  of  this  world."  The  true  explanation  however  of 
this  is,  not  tiiat  they  did  not  expect  Christ  to  come  'personally,  but  that  they 
expected  his  rule  to  be  one  of  peace  and  righteousness,  "according  to  the  de- 
crees of  the  holy  Gospel,  and  not  according  to  the  traditions  and  laws  of  men, 
and  the  wills  of  tyrants  of  the  world,"  as  declared  in  the  previous  answer  of 
the  Catechism."  (See  thispointdiscussed  in  the  Investigator, vol.  i.  page  171.) 
The  Catechism  likewise  speaks  of  the  impossibility  of  Christ's  bodily  presence 
being  every  where  on  earth;  but  on  the  subject  of  the  mode  of  Christ's  mani- 
festation, the  ablest  Millennarian  writers  have  dilfered,  as  indeed  might  have 
been  expected. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      (57 

world  in  theselatterdays  to  give  the  world  warning,all  those  men 
do  gather  out  of  Scripture,  that  the  last  day  cannot  he  far  off." 

Another  extract  is  added  from  his  sermon  for  the  second 
Sunday  in  Advent.  Having  ohscrvcd  again,  tliat  the  days 
before  the  Advent  will  be  shortened,  "so  that  pcradventure, 
(saith  he)  it  mat/  come  in  my  days,  old  as  I  am,  or  in  our  chil- 
dren's days;"  he  proceeds:  ''There  will  be  great  alterations  at 
that  day;  there  will  be  hurly  burly,  like  as  ye  see  when  a 
man  dieth,  &c.  There  will  he  such  alterations  of  the  earth  and 
the  elements,  they  will  lose  their  former  nature,  and  be  endued 
with  another  nature.  And  then  shall  they  see  the  Son  of  Man 
come  in  a  cloud  with  power  and  great  glory.  Certain  it  is  that 
he  shall  come  to  judge;  but  we  cannot  tell  the  time  when  he 
shall  come."  Then  quoting  1  Thcss.  iv.  to  shew  that  the  liv- 
ing saints  shall  be  "rapt  up  into  the  air,  and  so  meet  Christ  our 
Saviour;"  he  adds,  "AH  those,  I  say,  who  be  content  to  strive 
and  fight  with  sin,  these  shall  in  such  wise  be  taken  up  into 
the  air  and  meet  with  Christ,  and  so  shall  come  dozen  uith  him 
acrai?}.'' — "I  pray  God,  that  we  may  be  of  the  number  of  those, 
which  shall  hear  this  joyful  and  most  comfortable  voice  of 
Christ  our  Saviour,  when  he  will  say,  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,  possess  the  kingdom  which  is  prepared  for  you  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world  was  laid." — "That  man  or  that 
woman  that  saith  these  words,  Thy  ki?iirdo7n  come,  with  a  faith- 
ful heart,  no  doubt  desireth  in  very  deed,  that  God  will  come 
to  judgment,  and  amend  all  things  in  this  world,  and  put  down 
Satan,  that  old  serpent,  under  our  feet." 

The  martyr,  Bradford,  on  Rom.  viii.  expresses  the  same 
expectation.  "This  renovation  of  all  things  the  prophets  do 
seem  to  promise,  when  they  promise  nero  heavens  and  a  new 
earth.  For  a  new  earth  seemeth  to  require  no  less  renovation 
of  earthly  things,  than  ne;*v  heavens  do  of  heavenly  things. 
But  these  things  the  apostle  doth  plainly  affirm,  that  Christ 
will  restore,  even  whatsoever  be  in  heaven  arid  in  earth;  (Col. 
i.)  Therefore  metbinks  it  is  the  duty  of  a  godly  mind  simply 
to  acknowledge,  and  thereof  to  boast  in  the  I^ord,  that  in  our 
resurrection  all  things  shall  be  so  repaired  to  eternity,  as  for 
our  sin  they  were  made  subject  to  corruption.  The  ancient 
writers  out  of  2  Pet.  iii.  have  as  it  were  agreed  to  tiiis  sentence, 
that  the  shape  of  this  world  shall  pass  away,  through  the  burn- 
ing of  earthly  fire,  as  it  was  drowned  with  the  flowing  of  earthly 
waters.  These  be  St.  Augustine's  words,  &.c. — Therefore  it 
is  the  part  of  a  godly  man,  and  of  one  that  hangeth  in  all 
things  upon  the  word  of  God,  to  learn  out  of  this  place,  that 
whatsoever  cc^rruption,  death  or  grief,  he  sccth  in  any  thing, 


(58      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

whatsoever  it  be,  that  (I say)  he  ascribe  that  wholly  unto  his 
sins,  and  thereby  provoke  himself  to  true  repentance.  Now 
as  soon  as  that  repentance  compelleth  him  to  go  to  Christ,  let 
him  think  thus:  But  this  my  Saviour  and  my  Head,  Jesus 
Christ,  died  for  my  sins,  and  therewith,  as  he  took  away  death, 
so  hath  he  taken  away  all  the  corruption  and  labour  of  all 
things,  and  will  restore  them  in  his  time,  wheresoever  they  be, 
in  heaven  or  in  earth.  Now  every  creature  travaileth  and 
groaneth  with  us;  but  we  being  restored,  they  also  shall  be 
restored:  there  shall  be  new  heavens,  new  earth,  and  all  things 
new."* 

Combining  the  different  extracts  which  have  been  here  given, 
it  will  be  seen,  first,  that  the  Reformers  come  back  decidedly 
to  that  important  j)oint,  the  looking  for  the  speedy  revelation 
in  glory  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — a  point  of  doctrine  which 
we  constantly  find  pressed  upon  the  church  in'  the  writings  of 
the  apostles,  and  the  postponement  of  which  (by  the  interven- 
tion of  an  indefinite  period  of  glory  in  heaven,  or  by  applying 
to  the  condition  of  the  believer  in  the  separate  state  those  pro- 
mises which  relate  only  to  the  time  of  the  Advent,)  has  greatly 
tended  to  darken  the  view  of  the  church  in  regard  to  prophecy, 
and  to  deaden  its  hope  in  the  resurrection.  It  will  be 
seen  also,  that  the  Reformers  do  viriually  set  forth  the  Mille- 
narian  hope  in  this  matter:  for  if  they  looked  not  for  a  thousand 
years  of  glory  to  the  church  on  a  renewed  earth,  in  company 
with  their  Saviour,  they  did  certainly  expect  such  a  glory  for 
an  indefinite  period;  and  they  preached  it  as  immediately  at 
hand,  and  made,  (as  may  be  seen  from  the  short  extracts  given,) 
a  practical  heart-stirring  use  of  it. 

There  is  another  important  tenet  which  was  urnversalli/  re- 
ceived by  Protestants  soon  after  the  Reformation:  viz.,  that 
Antichrist  had  not  disappeared  at  the  accession  of  Constantine; 
but  on  the  contrary,  that  he  then  only  began  to  be  developed, 
and  was  manifested  in  full  grown  maturity  in  the  papacy, 
which  afterwards  sprung  up.  So  general  has  become  the  ap- 
plication to  the  pope,  or  to  the  papal  system,  of  the  scriptures 
relative  to  Antichrist,  that  it  is  superfluous  to  enter  into  the 
proof  of  it:  there  are  few  works  on  prophecy  written  by  Pro- 
testants, from  the  period  of  Luther's  declaring  the  pope  to  be 
Antichrist,  which  he  did  in  the  year  1520,  down  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  present  century,  which  do  not  thus  treat  the 
subject,!     And  this  doctrine  likewise  proved  of  great  practical 

*  See  Richmond's  Fathers  of  the  English  Church,  vol.  vi.  p.  fi08. 

tSome  few  considered  Mahomet,  to  be  Antichrist.  This  will  be  noticed 
hereafter,  M'hen  we  come  to  treat  more  particularly  of  those  features  of  pro- 
phecy, which  are  in  this  historical  sketch  necessarily  but  slightly  touched 
upon. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      (59 

advantage  to  the  Reformers,  For  they  were  encouraged  to 
bear  up  against  the  abuse  and  contumely  heaped  upon  them  by 
the  Papists,  by  insisting  that  Home  was  Babylon,  and  the 
pope  Antichrist,  and  that  God's  people  were  to  come  out  of 
her;  and  even  at  the  stake  they  were  supported  by  the  expec- 
tation, that  he  was  shortly  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  kingdom 
of  God  to  be  made  manifest:  *  for  they  couj)led — as  necessarily 
it  must  be  coupled — the  destruction  of  Antichrist,  with  the  re- 
velation of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  from  heaven. 

Before  closing  the  history  of  this  century,  it  must  be  farther 
observed,  (in  justification  of  the  statement  of  Bishop  Newton, 
that  pure  Millenarian  doctrine  was  likewise  revived  and  enter- 
tained at  the  time  of  the  Reformation;)  that  it  certainly  was 
then  revived;  but,  as  it  appears  to  be  the  common  device  of 
Satan,  to  bring  reproach  upon  a  doctrine  which  he  dreads,  by 
inducing  some  to  profess  it  who  walk  not  orderly,  or  by  urging 
those  who,  in  other  respects  are  godly,  into  some  extrava- 
gance; so,  in  this  instance,  the  fanatical  sect  of  the  Aiiabaptids, 
which  arose  on  the  continent  and  quickly  sjDread  into  England, 
having  embraced  millenarian  views,  but  coupled  with  much 
error  and  carnal  absurdity,  brought  the  doctrine  into  great 
disrepute.  It  was  apparently  on  this  account,  that  so  many 
stood  aloof  and  alarmed,  in  regard  to  the  single  tenet  of  the  thou- 
sand years;  whilst  in  the  same  articles  which  accompanied  the 
Catechism  drawn  up  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  and  of  which 
mention  has  been  made,  one  was  directly  pointed  against  the 
MUletiarians.  But  whatever  were  the  circumstances  which, 
in  1553,  led  to  the  adoption  of  this  article,  only  nine  years 
afterwards  it  was  wilhdrazvn,  together  with  two  others,  which 
reduced  the  total  number  from  forty-two  to  thirty-nine,  with 
scarcely  any  alteration  in  the  doctrinal  matter  of  those  which 
remain.  The  withdrawal  of  this  articJe  must  have  arisen 
either  from  the  increase  of  millenarian  principles  at  this 
time;  or  at  least  from  the  conviction  that  they  were  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  extravagances  of  Cerinthus  or  of  IVIunzer.t 

6.  We  have  seen  what  the  voice  of  the  church  was  during 
the  sixteenth  century,  or  era  of  the  Reformation: — a  voice 
giving  not  altogether  an  uncertain  sound,  though  not  so  clear 
and  distinct  as  in  the  first  three  centuries  of  Christianity;  nor, 

♦  The  reader  will  find  some  strikins:  testimonies,  that  the  Reformers  held 
the  papacy  to  he  Antichrist,  in  the  appendix  to  Mr.  Cuninjjhame's  tract,  ''The 
Churcli  of  Rome  the  Apostacy,  &c.;"  likewise  in  his  "Strictures  on  the  Rev. 
S.  R.  Maiiland's  four  pamphlets  on  prophecy." 

t  It  does  not  appear  that  the  arguments  or  discussion  which  took  place  at  the 
time  the  articles  m  question  were  withdrawn,  have  ever  transpired.  All  we 
know  is,  that  they^were  struck  out  with  the  red  lead  pencil  used  always  by 
Archbishop  Parker.  See  Strype's  Annals,  c.  xxviii.  p.  '268,  aud  Bennett's 
History  of  the  ihiriy-nine  Articles. 
6* 


70      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

as  it  afterwards  sounded  out  at  a  more  advanced  period  of  the 
Reformation.     At  the  latter  end,  indeed,  of  this  century,  seve- 
ral individuals  of  eminence  are  known  to  us  as  having  profess- 
ed  millenarian  sentiments  on   prophecy;  among  whom   may 
be  named  John  Piscator,   Alphonsus  Conrade,  Carolus  Gallus, 
Tycho  Brahe,  Dr.  F.  Kelt,  Abraham  Fleming,  Hugh  Brough- 
ton,  and  Anthony  JMarten.     In  the  seventeenth  century,  how- 
ever, there  arose  a  constellation  of  learned  students  of  prophecy ; 
and,  with  the  careful  study  of  prophecy,  millenarian  doctrine 
shone  out  again  once  more  with  clearness  and  with  splendour. 
The    absurdity    maintained    by    Grotius,    Prideaux,    Whitby, 
Hammond,  and  some  others,  that  the  Millennium  commenced 
with  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  was  at  length  fairly  driven 
out  of  the  field  and  exploded:*   so  that  the  rc/wle  church  has,  by 
means  of  the  flood  of  light  then  poured  upon  .prophecy,  since 
become   millenarian  in  the  literal   sense  of  the  term;    there 
being  very  few  in  the  present  day  who  do  not  look  forward  to 
a  millenniumA     A    remarkable   revolution    has    indeed   been 
effected  in  this  matter  since  the  era  of  the  Reformation;  the 
anti-millenarians   of  the   present  day,  being  now  persons  who 
are  ardently  looking  forward  for  a  period  of  rest  and  glory  to 
the   church,  which  is  to   last  a   thousand  years;  whilst  they 
deny  the  resurrection   of  the   saints  to   participate   in   it,  the 
restoration  of  the  Jew^,  and  the  appearing  of  the  great  God 
and   Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.      Whereas  the  anti-millenarians  of 
the  former  period  rejected  solely  the  expectation  of  the  thou- 
sand years,  but  held   all  the  latter  tenets.      Even  such  anti- 
millenarians  as  Bishop  Taylor,  and  Dr.  Whitby,  who   were  of 
a  later  period,  held  sentiments  which  would  now  be  deemed  of 
a  millenarian   complexion;  which  has   been  already  shewn  in 
regard  to    the  former;    (see  page   78,)   and    may   be  seen,  as 
respects  the  latter,  by  a  reference  to  his  Commentary  on  2  Tim. 
iv.  S.J 

The  essentials,  however,  of  millenarian  doctrine  were 
doomed  to  undergo  much  opposition,  and  even  persecution,  in 

*  Archbishop  Usher,  and  some  few  after  him,  made  the  Millennium  to  com- 
mence with  the  period  of  Christ's  first  advent;  so  that  Satan,  according  to 
them,  must  have  been  bound  during  the  period  cf  pagan  persecution,  and 
during  those  days  of  which  St.  John  says, — "Now  are  there  many  Antichrists." 
From  the  manner,  however,  in  which  Archbishop  Usher  altL>r"wards  concur- 
red in  much  which  was  submitted  to  him  by  Mcde  and  others,  (as  may  be 
seen  from  his  communications  published  in  Mede's  works,)  we  must  conclude 
that  he  afterwards  renounced  this  opinion  and  became  Millenarian. 

tit  cannot  be  said,  there  are  -none  but  what  do;  except  on  the  principle,  that 
there  is  no  rule  without  an  exception;  for  there  will  ever  be  found  individuals, 
yea,  and  learned  individuals,  ready  to  adopt  eccentric  or  extravagant  opinions. 
"Thus  Professor  Lee,  in  his  recently  published  work  on  the  Apocalypse,  has  in 
our  day  revived  the  exploded  doctrine  of  Grotius  in  regard  to  the  thousand 
years. 

t  A  reprint  of  it  appears  in  the  Investigator,  vol.  iv.  p.  178. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPPvETATION. 


71 


this  century;  and  some  curious  facts  remain  to  be  recorded, 
affcctini);  the  history  of  prophecy  during  this  period.  The  cir- 
cumstances which  principally  gave  rise  to  them  were,  the  con- 
duct of  those  fanatics  who  were  called  fifik  monarchy  men;  and 
the  jealousy  of  the  dominant  parlij.  The  turbulence  and  extra- 
vagance of  the  former,  who  were  all  of  them  millenarians,* 
caused  many  timid  persons  to  shrink  from  the  doctrine  alto- 
gether; some  fearing  the  reproach  of  being  confounded  with 
them,  and  others  inconsiderately  concluding  that  there  was 
some  necessary  connexion  between  millenarianism  and  sedi- 
tion: and  thus  by  neglecting  the  study  of  prophecy  altogether, 
or  by  seeking  some  allegorical  (or,  as  it  is  improperly  termed, 
some  spiritual)  meaning  for  portions  of  God's  word,  which 
were  previously  understood  in  their  literal  sense,  they  yielded 
up  that  very  advantage  to  Satan  which  he  sought.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  conduct  of  the  high  church  party  caused  this 
doctrine  to  be  at  last  maintained  principally  among  the  puri- 
tans and  the  dissenters,  properly  so  called;  insomuch  that  to 
hold  millenarian  doctrine  at  all,  was  at  length  suilicient  to  ex- 
pose a  man  to  the  imputation  of  being  a  dissenter,  and  to  ex- 
cite against  him  the  suspicion  of  disloyalty. 

Thus  JNIede  says,  in  regard  to  this  point,  "that  papists  and 
episcopal  men  are  loath  that  we  should  expect  a  better  time 
than  under  them;" — alluding  to  the  millenarian  expectation 
of  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  should  dwell 
righteousness.  On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Prideaux,  one  of  the 
most  moderate  of  the  episcopalians,  when  endeavouring  to 
prove  that  the  thousand  years  commenced  with  Constantine, 
says,  ^^'VhQ  dissenters  here  object,  &c."  by  which  he  means  the 
millenariafis.  And,  again,  insisting  that  the  first  resurrection, 
described  in  Rev.  xx.,  is  to  be  understood  figuratively,  he  says, 
"Neither  do  those  things  move  us,  which  the  dissenters  object; 
viz.  that  souls  are  here  taken  synechdochically  for  souls  and 
bodies  united." 

Considerable  light  has  recently  been  thrown  upon  the  senti- 
ments, in  this  matter,  of  the  majority  of  the  Aimous  Assembly 

*  They  were  caWet]  fifth  monarchij  men  from  the  circumstance,  that  they  un- 
derstood that  kinj^dom  mentioned  by  Daniel,  as  succeedin<?  to  the  four  great 
monarchies  or  empires,  set  (orlh,  first  by  the  colossal  image,  (Dan.'ii.  31-15.) 
and  secondly  by  ihe  four  beasts,  (Dan.  vii.  17,  18.)  of  the'kingdom  of  Christ 
and  Iiis  saints  to  be  established  on  earth.  In  this  ^e^pect  their  views  were  or- 
thodox; for  almost  all  interpreters  of  prophecy  maintain  the  same  opinion. 
The  peculiarity  of  their  views,  however,  consisted  in  this;  that  they  expected 
the  destruction  of  every  thing  anti-christian,  to  be  effected  by  the  immediate 
agency  of  the  living  saints;  and  for  this  purpose,  they  contended  that  all 
power,  both  civil  and  military,  must  necessarily  be  put  into  their  hands.  With 
truly  spiritual  and  excellent  men,  such  as  Tillin<:hart,  who  continually  ex- 
horted their  hearers  to  patience,  such  a  notion  was  harmless;  but  when  adopt- 
ed by  the  unsanctified  fanatic,  who  was  for  anticipating  the  time  and  seizing 
the  power,  it  proved  itself  a  mischievous  and  very  troublesome  opinion. 


72        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

of  Divines,  held  at  Westminster  in  1643,  by  the  publication  in 
Scotland  of  the  Journal  and  Letters  written  at  that  time  by 
Principal  Baillie,  himself  a  determined  anti-niillenarian,  and 
therefore  not  likely  to  be  disposed  to  exaggerate  the  numbers 
or  respectability  of  the  parties  who  maintained  it.  In  his  let- 
ter, No.  117,  he  says,  "Send  me  the  rest  of  Forbes:  I  like  the 
book  very  well,  and  the  man  mucli  better  for  the  book's  sake. 
1  marvel  I  can  find  nothing  in  it  against  the  millenaries.  I 
cannot  think  the  author  a  millenary.  I  cannot  dream  why 
he  should  have  omitted  an  error  so  famous  in  antiquity,  and  so 
troublesome  among  i/s;  for  the  most  of  the  chief  divines 
HERE,  [meaning  the  Assembly]  not  only  Independents,  but 
others,  such  as  Twisse,  Marshall,  Palmer,  and  many  more, 
are  express  CJdliasts.'"*'  In  this  extract  two  things  are  evident: 
First,  that  the  independents  of  that  day  were  generally  mille- 
naries or  chiliasts;  which  may  plainly  be  inferred  from  the 
expression — "not  only  independents;"  as  if  the  person  to  whom 
he  wrote  would  take  for  granted  that  they  were  so.  And, 
secondly,  it  is  evident,  that  tlie  majority  of  eminent  divines  there, 
besides  the  Independenls,  were  also  mil'lenarian;  as  is  clear  from 
his  saying,  "most  of  the  chief  divines  here,  such  as  Twisse, 
(the  prolocutor,)  Marshall,  Palmer,  and  many  ?nore,  are  express 
Chiliasts,"  Besides  the  three  above  mentioned,  the  following 
members  of  that  assembly  are  known  likewise  by  their  pub- 
lished writings  or  sentiments,  to  have  been  millenarian:  viz. 
Simeon  Ash,  of  St.  Bride's;  W.  Bridge,  A.  M.;  Jeremiah  Bur- 
roughs, A.  M.;  J.  Carlyl,  A.M.;  T.  Goodwin,  D.D.;  W.  Gouge, 
D.  D.;  J.  Langley,  Prebendary  of  Gloucester;  and  Peter  Sterry, 
of  London;  which  is  a  considerable  number  when  it  is  remem- 
Ijered,  how  few  divines  commit  themselves  in  print,  compared 
with  the  number  of  those  who  never  publish  iheir  sentiments; 
and  of  how  many  the  works  are  no  longer  extant.  Among  the 
formularies  framed  by  that  assembly,  and  adopted  i)y  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  is  the  "Directory  for  Public  Worsliip;"  in  which 
it  is  prescribed  that  ministers  should  pra}' — "For  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  gospel,  and  kingdom  of  Christ,  to  all  nations;  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Jev;s;  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles;  the 
fall  of  antichrist;  and  the  hastening  of  the  second  coming  of 
our  Lord."  In  the  Shorter  Catecliism  is  the  Asseml)ly's  Ex- 
position of  the  Lord's  Prayer;  and  on  the  words,  "Thy  king- 
dom come"  we  have  as  follows:  "In  the  second  petition  we 
pray,  that  Satan's  kingdom  may  be  destroyed,  and  that  the 
kingdom  of  grace  ma}'-  be  advanced;  ourselves  and  others 
brought  into  it;  and  that  the  kingdom  of  glory  maybe  hastened:" 

*  I  am  indebted,  for  being  directed  to  this  work,  to  a  short  but  able  Treatise, 
by  the  Rev^.  W.  Anderson  of  Glasgow,  called  "A  Letter  tu  the  Author  of  Mil- 
lenarianism  Indefensible." 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.       73 

which  is  explained  in  the  corresponding  clause  of  the  Larger 
Catechism  thus;  "We  pray,  that  Christ  would  hasten  the 
time  of  His  second  coming  and  our  reigning  uith  him  forever.'^ 
When  it  is  admitted  hy  an  opponent  of  the  doctrine,  that  the 
majority  of  the  chief  divines  of  that  assemhiy  were  millenarian, 
it  cannot  reasonably  be  questioned  that  the  above  sentences 
were  intended  to  be  understood  in  a  millenarian  sense;  and 
indeed  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  them  with  any  other. 

What  has  been  adduced  above  may  suffice  for  the  Purilan 
and  JVon -conformist  divines,  and  for  the  Independents;  as  regards 
the  Baptists  (not  the  Anabaptists,  from  whom  the  Baptists  have 
been  ])roperly  distinguished,*)  we  have,  in  addition  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  eminent  John  IJunyan,  and  some  other  indi- 
vidual Baptists  of  piety  and  talent,  the  explicit  testimony  of 
the  Baptist  confession  of  faith,  which  is  preserved  in  Crosby's 
history  of  that  sect."  We  believe  that  there  will  be  an  order 
in  the  resurrection;  Christ  is  the  first  fruits,  and  then  next,  or 
after,  they  that  are  Christ's  at  his  coming;  then,  or  afterwards, 
cometh  the  end.  Concerning  the  kingdom  and  reign  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  we  do  believe  that  he  is  now  in  heaven 
at  his  Father's  right  hand:  so  we  do  believe,  that,  at  the  time 
appointed  of  the  Father,  he  shall  come  again  in  power  and 
great  glory,  and  that  at,  or  after,  his  coming  the  second  time, 
he  will  not  only  raise  the  dead,  and  judge  and  restore  the 
world,  but  will  also  take  to  himself  his  kingdom,  and  will, 
according  to  the  scriptures,  reign  on  the  throne  of  his  father 
David,  on  Mount  Zion,  in  Jerusalem,  for  ever."t 

It  must  not  be  concluded  by  the  reader,  that  all  episcopa- 
lians were  anti-millenarian:  on  the  contrary,  they  numbered 
in  their  ranks  some  able  theologians  and  interpreters,  who 
took,  what  I  will  venture  to  call  llie  orthodox  view  of  prophecy. 
Nevertheless,  to  hold  millpnarian  views  exposed  a  man  to  re- 
proach; which  was  at  one  period  carried  to  so  great  an  extent, 
that  liishop  Newton  states,  "it  was  esteemed  a  mark. that  a 
man  was  a  pi/ritan,  and  a  certain  obstacle  to  his  preferment,  to 
preach  that  tiie  i)ope  was  Antichrist."  Vol.  ii.  p.  400.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  overbearing  manner  in  which  direct 
millcnarianism  was  put  down  by  the  dominant  party,  may 
be   judged    of    from    the    following    extract    from    Ephraim 

•  Bishop  Burnet,  .^peaking  of  the  Anabaptists,  says:  "Some  of  them  set  up  a 
fantastical  unintelligible  way  of  talking  of  religion,  which  they  turned  a]l  into 
allegories:  these  being  joined  in  the  common  name  of  Anabaptist  a  with  the 
other,  (the  Baptists,)  brought  them  also  under  an  ill  character."  Vol.  ii. 
book  i. 

t  Further  extracts,  of  an  interesting  character  to  the  student  of  prophecy, 
will  be  found  in  the  Dialogues  on  Prophecy,  vol.  ii.  p.  "JtJT,  and  in  a  small 
work  by  Mr.  Co.t,  a  baptist  minister,  at  Woolwich,  entitled  "A  Milleuarian's 
Answer  of  the  Hope  that  is  in  Him.'' 


74        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Huel's  preface  to  his  commentary  on  Daniel;  which  is  only 
a  specimen  of  the  reasons  assigned  for  the  tardy  or  post- 
humous publication  of  several  works  which  appeared  about 
that  period.  The  preface  or  epistle  dedicatory  is  signed  by 
Simeon  Ash,  Samuel  Clarke,  and  William  Overton,  eminent 
divines;  and  they  state,  as  an  apology  for  its  not  having  been 
published  by  Huet, — <'that  indeed  such  was  the  iniquity  and 
injuriousness  of  those  times,  that  fezo  zvorks  of  this  nature  zcere 
suffered  to  see  the  light;  especially  if  they  spake  any  thing  freely 
of  those  opinions  which  were  so  much  disliked  and  cried  down 
hij  the  prelalical  party,  as  this  doth  concerning  the  g'orious  call- 
ing and  conversion  of  the  Jews,  which  was  a  principal  objec- 
tion made  against  it.  But  the  Lord  in  mercy  having  sent  us 
a  parliament,*  whose  first  study  and  care  was,  to  relieve  the 
oppressed,  and  release  the  imprisoned;  this  also  hath  at  length 
obtained  its  manumission,  (principally  by  the  endeavours  and 
favour  of  that  truly  noble  and  heroical  patriot,  the  earl  of 
Manchester,)  and  is  now  come  abroad  into  the  world;  and, 
as  we  hope,  will  prove  very  serviceable."  The  same  spirit  of 
persecution  against  these  doctrines  passed  over  to  the  conti- 
nent, and  exhibited  itself  there,  at  a  later  period  of  this  cen- 
tury, in  the  suppression  of  numerous  works;  among  which 
may  be  instanced  the  "Scriptural  Exposition  and  Demonstra- 
tion of  the  Millcnarian  Reign,  &c."  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Peterson, 
professor  at  Rostoch  in  1677,  and  afterwards  superintendent  of 
Lunenburg;  for  which  publication  he  was  cited  before  the 
consistory  of  Zell  and  deposed,  and  his  work  withdrawn;  and 
likewise  a  work  of  S.  P.  Klettwich,  intitled,  "The  answer 
which  has  been  demanded  to  two  curious  questions,  viz. — 
'How  long  the  present  world  will  continue — i.  e.  whether  it 
will  continue  for  GOOO  years?'  and  if  not,  'Whether  before  the 
end  and  total  consummation  of  this  world,  a  previous,  difTerent, 
better,  and  more  happy  world  and  times  are  to  be  lioped  for;"' 
which  work  was  suppressed  by  the  consistory  of  Leipsic. 

We  may  close  the  account  of  this  century  by  giving,  for  the 
guidance  of  the  student  of  prophecy,  some  other  names  of 
those,  who  are  known  by  their  sentiments,  published  within 
this  period,  to  have  been  millenarian,  viz. :  X>oc7ors  W.  Alabas- 
ter, W.  Allen,  T.  Burnet,  D.  Cressener,  W.  Hakewell,  G. 
Hicks,  N.  Homes,  J.  Mather,  W.  Potter:  and  the  following 
divines  and  laymen,  abroad  and  of  this  country:  T.  Adams, 
W.  Alleine,  J.  Archer,  E.  Bagshaw,  T.  Beverley,  W,  Burton, 
M.  Gary,  J.  Cocceius,  W.  Deusbery,  J.  Durant,  W.  Erbery, 
G.  Foster,  T.  Gale,   G.    Hammon,    S.  Hartlib,  E.   Huet,  J. 

*  The  preface  is  dated  IG13, — the  year  in  which  the  assembly  of  divines  met 
at  Westminster. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      75 

Hussey,  P.  de  Launay,  R.  Maton,  J.  Mede,  W.  Medley,  R. 
JVtercer,  C.  S.  Nuncius,  A.  Pea;aniLKs,  S.  Petto,  J.  Ranew,  W. 
Sherwin  and  J.  Tillinghast.  This  list  is  necessarily  very  de- 
fective; nor  is  it  to  be  understood  that  all,  who  are  therein 
enumerated,  are  equally  niillenarian  in  degree;  for  some  of 
them  contend  only  for  a  premillennial  resurrection;  whilst  a 
few,  still  conceiving  the  millennium  to  be  past,  look  for  the 
appearing  and  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  be  estab- 
lished upon  a  renewed  earth. 

7.  Tiie  history  of  the  voice  of  the  church  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  may  be  speedily  dismissed;  for,  alas,  it 
became  weak  and  feeble  on  most  points  connected  with  the. 
doctrines  of  genuine  Christianity.  Yet  there  are  two  or  three 
facts  worthy  of  particular  remark. 

The  first  is,  that  wherever  we  look  around  and  find  true 
piety  prevailing,  there  likewise  we  may  perceive  millenarian 
doctrine  springing  up  and  accompanying  it. 

In  Germany,  so  long  back  as  the  latter  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  Simon  Menno,  originally  a  popish  priest,  but  after- 
wards the  founder  of  a  sect  called  the  ISIennonites,  succeeded 
in  bringing  back  from  their  extravagances  great  numbers  of  the 
German  anabaptists,  and  setting  before  them  the  true  principles 
of  primitive  millenarianism;  and  this  sect  continued  through 
the  next  and  greater  part  of  the  following  century  to  exhibit 
much  real  piety;  and  they  are  stated  by  Mosheim  in  his  time 
to  have  maintained  the  ''ancient  hypothesis  of  a  visible  and 
glorious  church  of  Christ  upon  earth,"  (vol.  v.  p.  497.) 

In  the  English  Encyclopedia,  under  the  article  *Cocceiits,^ 
we  are  told  "that  he  was  the  founder  of  a  sect  called  Cocceians; 
who  held,  among  other  singular  opinions,  that  of  a  visible 
reign  of  Christ  in  this  world,  after  a  general  conversion  of  the 
Jews  and  all  other  people  to  the  true  christian  faith,  as  laid 
down  in  the  voluminous  works  of  Cocceius. "  This  was  no 
other  than  the  eminent  John  Cocceius,  professor  of  tlicology 
at  Bremen, — a  man  continually  quoted  and  applauded  by  Vi- 
tringa  for  his  piety,  learning,  and  ability  as  an  expositor  of 
prophecy.  The  Rev.  H.  Ilorne,  speaking  in  his  "Introduc- 
tion, &c. ,"  of  his  commentaries,  says,  "that  they  abound  with 
valuable  illustrations,  and  will  amply  repay  the  trouble  of  pe- 
rusal ;"  and  Robinson  says  of  him,  that  it  passed  into  a  proverb, 
"that  Grotius  finds  Christ  no  zchere  in  the  Old  Testament,  Coc- 
ceius everyzL'here.'^  lie  died  in  1G9.9,  and  his  followers  were 
known  chiefly  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  Pietists  of  Germany,  at  the  same  time  that,  like  the  Pu- 
ritans of  the  former  century  in  England,  and  the  J\Iclliodists  of 
this  present  century,  they  derived  a  name  of  reproach  founded 


76      ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

upon  their  strictness  in  the  things  of  God — a  reproach  which 
may  truly  be  said  to  have  been  accompanied  by  the  Spirit  of 
glory,  and  of  God  resting  on  them  (1  Pet.  iv.  14.) — were  also 
in  general  Mlllenarians,  as  may  plainly  be  seen,  without  enter- 
ing into  other  proofs,  in  a  work  entitled  "Useful  Information 
respecting  Pietism;  or  a  Statement  of  the  real  Faith  and 
Doctrine  of  the  so  called  Pietists,''  written  by  the  same  Klett- 
wich,  whose  Millenarian  work  was  suppressed  by  the  consis- 
tory of  Leipsic. 

Among  the  Mystics,  both  of  England  and  the  Continent,  the 
same  doctrine  pretty  generally  prevailed,  which  I  take  on  the 
testimony  of  the  Rev.  T.  Hartley,  Rector  of  Winnick,  North- 
ampton, himself  a  mystic.  The  proofs  of  it  are  contained  in 
his  work  called  "Paradise  Restored,  or  a  Testimony  to  the 
Doctrine  of  the  blessed  Millennium,"  published  in  1764.t 

*  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  mystics  held  this  doctrine  with  very 
different  degrees  of  prominency;  for  indeed  their  peculiar  views  led  them 
more  to  consider  the  mystery  of  inward  grace  or  spiritual  life  in  the  soul. 
Among  the  mystics  have  been  numbered  Bishop  Taylor,  whose  views  have 
already  been  brought  forward,  Bishop  Kenn,  Fenelon,  archbishop  of  Cambray; 
Law,  the  author  of  the  "Serious  Call,"  and  AUeine,  the  author  of  the  "Alarm 
to  the  Unconverted."  From  the  Life  and  Letters  of  AUeine  a  specimen  is 
here  added  of  his  sentiments.  It  is  contained  in  a  letter,  written  whilst  he  was 
in  prison,  for  preaching  the  gospel  in  his  own  house,  after  he  had  been  ejected 
from  his  living  at  Taunton,  by  the  act  of  uniformity.  It  is  addressed  to  his 
faithful  flock  in  that  town,  and  is  throughout  touching  and  beautiful;  but  the 
necessity  of  being  brief,  induces  me  to  give  only  a  few  passages  which  afibrd 
an  evidence  of  the  practical  tendency  of  the  expectation  of  the  Saviour's  ad- 
vent, and  of  thepropermode  of  handling  the  subject. — "But  now,  my  brethren, 
I  shall  not  so  much  call  upon  you  to  remember  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  as 
the  return  of  Christ:  Behold,  he  comclh  in  the  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  see 
him — your  eyes  and  mine  eyes — and  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  shall  mourn  be- 
cause of  him.  But  u-e  shall  lift  up  our  heads,  because  the  day  of  our  redemp- 
tion draweth  nigh.  This  is  the  day  I  look  for,  and  wait  for,  and  have  laid  up 
all  my  hopes  in.  If  the  Lord  return  not,  I  profess  myself  undone:  my  preach- 
ing is  vain,  and  my  suffering  is  vain,  and  the  bottom  in  which  I  have  entrusted 
all  my  hopes  is  for  ever  miscarried.  But  I  know  whom  I  have  trusted:  we 
are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  his  sure  word,  »S:c.  and  how  fully  doth  that 
"word  assure  us,  that  this  sa,me  Jesus  that  is  gone  up  into  heaven  shall  so  return. 
Oh,  how  sure  is  the  thing!  How  near  is  the  lime!  How  glorious  will  his  ap- 
pearing be! — What  generous  cordials  hath  he  left  us  in  his  parting  sermons 
and  his  last  prayer;  and  yet  of  all  the  rest  these  words  are  the  sweetest,  I  will 
come  again,  and  receive  you  to  myself,  that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also. — 
And  wi/^  he  comel  Tremble,  then,  ye  sinners;  but  triumph,  ye  sa"ints!  Clap 
your  hands,  all  ye  that  look  for  the  consolation  of  Israel.  O  children  of  the 
Most  High,  how  will  yon  forget  your  travail,  and  be  melted  into  joy!  This  is 
he  in  whom  you  have' believed;  whom  not  having  seen,  ye  have  lov^ed. — O  my 
soul,  look  out  and  long!  O  my  brethren,  be  you  as  the  mother  of  Sisera, 
looking  out  at  the  windows,  and  watching  at  the  lattice,  saying.  Why  arc  his 
chariot  rvheels  so  long  in  coming?  Though  the  time  till  ye  shall  see  him  be 
very  short,  yet  love  and  longing  make  it  seem  tedious.  My  beloved,  comfort 
your  hearts  with  these  words:  look  upon  these  things  as  the  greatest  realities, 
and  let  your  affections  be  answerable  to  your  expectations.  J  would  not  have 
told  you  these  things  unless  I  had  believed  them;  it  is  for  this  hope  tliat  I  am 
bound  with  this  chain.  The  blessing  of  the  Holy  Trinity  be  upon  you,  &c." 
(Letter  xxvii.  in  an  old  and  scarce  work,  printed  iC72.) 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      77 

Next  may  be  mentioned  the  sect  of  the  Jansenists^  existing 
in  the  bosom  of  tlie  Roman  Catholic  church  in  France,  but 
holding  sentiments  which  approximate  to  evangelical  Protes- 
tantism. The  editor  of  a  periodical  published  in  Paris,  in 
1831,  called  The  fFatchmcm,  speaking  of  a  society  of  women 
still  existing  there,  who  were  followers  of  the  Janscnists,  ob- 
serves: "But  what  is  very  remarkable  in  the  history  of  this 
little  body,  consisting  of  about  a  hundred  persons,  is,  that  they 
have  received  and  cherished,  from  their  ancestors,  an  indubit- 
able persuasion  of  Christ's  second  coming  to  establish  his  per- 
sonal reign  upon  earth.  And  so  evidently  do  they  hold  this 
doctrine  to  be  revealed  in  the  scriptures,  that  when  they  heard 
of  the  gospel  being  preached  by  a  valuable  and  Aiithful  Swiss 
minister  now  in  Paris,  they  declined  to  hear  him,  because 
they  were  informed  that  he  did  not  believe  in  the  visible  and 
personal  reign  of  Christ  upon  earth." 

Finally  may  be  instanced  the  Methodists,  some  of  the  chief 
leaders  among  whom,  as  John  Wesley  himself,  and  Fletcher  of 
Madeley,  held  millenarian  views,  and  doubtless,  therefore, 
they  were  responded  to  in  this  matter  by  their  followers  in 
general.  The  proof  of  the  prophetical  views  of  the  latter  may 
be  seen  in  a  highly  interesting  letter,  written  by  him  to  John 
Wesley;*  and  those  of  Wesley  himself  are  contained  in  his 
exposition  of  the  Apocalypse,  appended  to  his  commentary  on 
the  New  Testament. 

In  bringing  forward  these  various  bodies  of  religious  pro- 
fessors, it  must  be  admitted,  that,  among  some  of  them,  the 
truth  of  the  gospel  was  more  or  less  disfigured  by  extravagan- 
ces, (or  at  least  it  appears  to  us,  in  this  day,  to  have  been  so, 
though  it  may  arise  from  the  misrepresentation  of  enemies;) 
but  we  cannot  but  admit,  at  the  same  time,  that  a  serious  spirit 
of  piety,  and  considerable  scriptural  attainments,  and  learning, 
and  ability,  have  appeared  among  them. 

A  second  circumstance  worthy  of  remark  in  this  century,  is 
the  decay  of  vital  godliness  among  the  different  denominations 
o{  dissenters,  strictly  so  called;  and  with  it  a  growing  neglect  of 
the  great  truths  of  prophecy.  For  it  cannot  i^e  denied,  that,  in 
order  to  attain  to  any  thing  like  a  tolerable  apprehension  of  the 
prophetical  portion  of  the  oracles  of  God,  it  is  at  least  neces- 
sary to  study  them,  and  to  become  familiar  with  the  text  itself. 
And  where  the  natural  taste  of  individuals  is  not  for  study, 
and  it  has  not  been  superinduced  by  the  artificial  habits  of  a 
scholastic  education,  there  is  a  great  disinclination  to  the  labour 
of  entering  upon  the  careful  investigation  of  prophecy,  which 

*  See  his  Worlfs,  _vol.  ix.  p.  308;  it  is  likewise  reprinted  in  vol.  ii.  p.  '162.  of 
the  Morning  Watch. 
VOL.  II. 7 


78      ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

is  only  to  be  overcome  by  the  stimulus  which  true  piety  sup- 
plies: and  indeed  we  would  put  it  to  the  consciences  of  some 
pious  persons  in  modern  times,  whether  the  apprehension  of 
the  labour  of  studying  prophecy,  has  not  so  prevailed  over 
them,  as  effectually  to  prejudice  their  minds  against  the  sub- 
ject? 

That  I  may  not  seem  to  judge  the  condition  of  the  dissent- 
ing congregations  through  a  prejudiced  medium,  I  would  refer 
to  the  fact,  that  an  annual  sermon  was,  about  the  middle  of  this 
century  appointed  to  be  preached  at  Great  Eastcheap,  exclu- 
sively on  prophecy,  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  subject 
from  sinking  altogether  into  oblivion.  Various  sermons 
preached  on  this  occasion  by  the  eminent  Dr.  John  Gill,  a  de- 
cided millenarian,  are  in  existence;  in  which  he  deplores,  not 
only  the  neglect  of  prophecy,  but  the  decay  of  genuine  piety. 
In  his  discourse  (for  example)  on  Isaiah  xxi.ll,  12,  he  ob- 
serves,— "A  sleepy  frame  of  spirit  has  seized  us;  both  nmiisters 
and  churches  are  asleep;  and  being  so,  the  enemy  is  busy  in 
sowing  the  tares  of  errors  and  heresies ,  and  which  will  grow  up 
and  spread  yet  more  and  more.  Coldness  and  indifference  in 
spiritual  things,  a  want  of  affection  to  God,  to  Christ,  his  peo- 
ple, truths  and  ordinances,  may  easily  be  observed;  the  first 
love  is  left,  and  because  iniquity  abounds  the  love  of  many 
waxes  cold." — "If  it  should  be  asked,  What  time  it  is  with  us? 
(the  text  is  on  the  question.  Watchman,  what  of  the  7iight?)  as  a 
faithful  watchman  I  will  give  you  the  best  account  I  can.  I 
take  it  we  are  in  the  Sardian  Church  state, — we  are  in  the  de- 
clifie  of  that  state;  for  there  are  many  things  said  of  that 
church  which  agree  with  us;  as  that  we  have  a  ?iame,  that  we 
live,  and  are  dead — the  name  of  the  reformed  churches — but 
without  the  life  and  power  of  true  religion;  and  there  are  few, 
and  but  a  few,  names  among  us,  which  have  not  defiled  their 
garments  with  false  doctrine  or  superstitious  worship." 

The  frequency  with  which  Dr.  Gill  was  himself  called  upon 
to  preach  this  annual  sermon,*  seems  to  indicate  the  dearth  of 
ministers  who  took  heed  to  prophecy  at  all;  and  the  very  fee- 
ble character  of  two  or  three  of  those  productions  which  have 
reached  us,  betra}?  that  this  branch  of  theology  was,  indeed,  at 
a  low  ebb.  Even  the  sermons  of  Dr.  Gill  himself  are  very 
superficial  and  inferior  to  the  other  works  of  that  learned  ex- 
positor on  this  subject;  perhaps  arising  from  the  conviction, 
that  the  want  of  information  among  his  hearers  in  general  on 
these  occasions,  did  not  impose  on  him  the  necessity  of  careful 
composition  or  elaborate  investigation. 

The  last  circumstance  to  be  noticed  is,  the  gradual  increase 
*  He  preached  it  seven  years  successively. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   79 

during  this  period  of  sound  prophetical  knowledge  among 
members  of  the  Church  of  England.  Several  works  of  great 
critical  research  and  learning  appeared  in  this  century;  and 
with  but  few  excejitions  of  any  eminence,  they  are  directly  or 
indirectly  of  a  millenarian  character.  The  annual  Lectures 
appointed  to  be  preached  on  prophecy  by  Bisliop  Warburton, 
for  which  an  endowment  was  left  by  him,  doubtless  contributed 
to  the  production  of  numerous  able  works  on  prophecy;  though 
the  range  which  the  writers  of  them  took  was  necessarily  limit- 
ed. The  lecture  was  founded  for  the  purpose  of  proving  <'The 
truth  of  revealed  religion  in  general,  and  of  the  Christian  in 
particular,  from  the  completion  of  the  prophecies  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  which  relate  to  the  Christian  church,  and 
especially  to  the  apostacy  of  papal  Rome." 

It  is  not  intended  to  be  insinuated,  that  a  greater  degree  of 
piety  existed  in  the  Church  of  England  at  this  time  than  among 
the  dissenting  congregations:  the  cause  of  prophetical  studies 
being  cultivated  among  them  is,  perhaps,  to  be  traced  to  the 
circumstance  of  the  superior  education  of  the  clergy,  generally 
speaking,  predisposing  them,  in  a  measure,  to  subjects  which 
aflbrded  scope  for  their  learning  and  erudition.  Many,  how- 
ever, of  the  publications  of  this  century,  proceeded  from 
churchmen,  whose  piety  of  spirit  cannot  be  questioned;  though 
it  would  be  invidious  to  particularize  individuals,  one  way  or 
the  other. 

The  following  additional  writers  to  those  mentioned  are 
among  the  number  of  those  whose  sentiments  were  millenarian 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  both  in  the  establishment  and  out  of 
it,  both  at  home  and  abroad;  and  whose  works  therefore  tend 
farther  to  evince  what  ihe  Voice  of  the  Church  was  in  this  cen- 
tury. Bishops  Clayton,  Horsley,  Newton,  and  Newcome;* 
Doclors  P.  Allix,  G.  Frank,  S.  Glass,  J.  E.  Grabe,  S.  Hopkins, 
(of  Rhode  Island,  N.  A.)  J.  Knight,  F.  Lee,  S.  Rudd,  and  E. 
Wells;  among  the  divines  of  lesser  degree,  T.  Adanls,  (of 
Winteringham,)  R.  ]5eere,  J.  A.  Bengelius,  C.  Daubuz,  R. 
Iteming,  J.  Ilallet,  R.  Ilort,  R.  Ingram,  P.  Juricu,J.  B.  Kop- 
pius,  C^  G.  Koch,  P.  Lancaster,  A.  Pirie,  R.  Roach,  J.  1). 
Scha-ffer,  A.  Toplady,  E.  Winchester;  and  among  the  laity 
Sir  I.  Newton,  and  II.  Dodwell,  and  E.  King,  Esqs. 

VII.  We  now  arrive  at  the  consideration  of  the  Voice  of 
the  Church  in  our  own  times.  A  remarkable  impetus  has  been 
given  to  the  investigation  of  prophecy  by  the  striking  events 

*  There  are  likewise  many  thin?;s  in  the  wrilinj^s  of  Bi-^hops  Hopkins, 
Hurd,  Lowth,  Sherlock,  and  others,  which,  though  tliey  do  not  entitle  lliem  to 
be  ranked  araongf  millenarian  writers,  are  nevertheless  wholly  incompatible 
with  the  views  of  modern  anti-millenarians. 


§0       ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

which  have  accompanied  and  succeeded  to  the  French  revolu- 
tion; an  event  which,  though  occurring  at  the  latter  end  of  the 
preceding  century,  belongs  more  properly,  so  far  as  the  con- 
sideration of  its  influence  on  prophecy  is  concerned,  to  the 
present.  Many  have  concluded  it  to  be  that  great  earthquake 
or  revolution  mentioned  in  the  Apocalypse,  in  regard  to  whicii 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  predicted,  that  when  it  should  occur,  a  flood 
of  light  would  be  thereby  cast  on  prophecy:  and  the  events 
which  are  now  daily  transpiring  and  deepening  in  interest,  both 
in  Great  Britain,  and  on  the  Continent,  have  tended  consider- 
ably to  awaken  in  men's  minds  the  expectation,  that  some  most 
important  crisis  is  at  hand;  which  expectation  is  not  weakened, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  intelligent  observer,  by  the  circum- 
stance, that  there  has  likewise  been  a  great  revival  of  true 
piety,  among  all  denominations  of  Christians,  and  that  unparal- 
leled exertions  are  being  made  towards  prom'oling  the  spread 
of  the  gospel,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  For  it  is  to  be  rea- 
sonably expected,  if  we  be  approaching  to  the  termination  of 
a  dispensation,  that  the  Lord  would  previously  effectually  call 
out  his  elect  remnant,  and  gather  them  from  the  four  winds; 
in  the  same  manner  that  before  the  break  up  of  the  Jewish 
dispensation  we  perceive,  that  there  was  a  considerable  elec- 
tion of  grace  from  among  them,  insomuch  that  a  great  com- 
pany of  the  priests  wa^  obedient  to  the  faith.* 

The  voice  of  the  Church  at  this  time,  so  far  as  the  students 
of  prophecy  and  the  writers  thereon  are  concerned,  has  become 
very  unequivocally  nu7/e/mrm??.  It  cannot  be  denied,  even  by 
those  who  are  still  unfriendly  to  the  doctrine,  that  the  attention 
of  Christians  has  been  greatly  excited  of  late  towards  the  Ad- 
vent of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  insomuch  that  the  circum- 
stances of  the  church  resembles  much  that  of  the  virgins  in 
the  parable,  awakened  by  the  cry:  ''Behold  the  Bridegroom 
Cometh,''  and  arising  and  shaking  themselves  from  slumber. 
With  the  exception  of  Mr.  Faber,t  there  is  scarcely  to  be 
found  a  writer  on  prophecy  of  any  eminence  in  the  present 
century,  who  is  not  looking  for  the  pre-millennial  advent  of 
Christ;  and  all  the  periodicals  which  have  arisen,  that  have 
been  exclusively  or  chiefly  devoted  to  prophetical  subjects,  (as 
the  Jewish  Expositor,  the  Morning  Watch,  the  Christian  He- 
rald,  the  Investigator,    the  Christian  Witness,  the  Christian 

*  Compare  Rom.  xi.  5,  and  Acts  vi.  7. 

t  Mr.  Faber's  sentiments,  in  earlier  editions  of  his  work  now  entitled  IVie 
Sacred  Calcjidur,  laid  him  open  to  be  pressed  with  millenarian  conclusions: 
liis  latter  work  is  essentially  diflerent  in  various  important  conclusions:  and 
is  a  very  unsatisfactory  and  contradictory  work,  though  entitled  to  respect, 
from  the'learning  and  piety  of  its  author.  For  a  review  of  it,  see  the  Inves- 
tigator, vol.  iv.  page  21)3. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   Qj 

Record,  the  Watchman,  the  Expositor  of  Prophecy,)  advocate 
primitive  millenarianism.  And  it  is  further  remarkable,  that 
in  ahnost  all  the  instances  of  works  issuing  from  the  press  in 
this  century,  directly  pointed  against  milJenarian  doctrine,  the 
writers  themselves  have  honestly  avowed,  that  they  have  not 
made  prophecy  their  study,  and  are  so  far  incompetent  to  treat 
the  subject  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

Another  phenomenon  to  be  noticed,  in  regard  to  the  present 
centur}'  is,  tliat  since  attention  has  been  drawn  to  tlie  expected 
advent  of  Christ,  it  has  betrayed  the  fact,  that  a  complete  re- 
volution has  taken  place  in  regard  to  the  parties  entertaining 
niillenarian  doctrine.  The  advocates  of  it  are  now  almost  ex- 
clusively to  be  found  within  the  pale  of  the  established  church; 
whilst  the  dissenters,  who  were  formerly  the  conservatives  of 
the  doctrine,  are  now  almost  universally  either  opposed,  or 
entirely  indifferent  to  it.  Some  yi'i/;  eminent  exceptions  may 
be  mentioned:  for  example,  Robert  Hall,  formerly  of  Leices- 
ter, who,  towards  the  latter  end  of  his  life,  was  brought  decid- 
edly to  subscribe  to  the  millenarian  interpretation  of  prophe- 
cy; I\fr.  Cox  and  Mr.  Tyso,  both  baptist  ministers;*  William 
Thorpe,  author  of  an  acute  and  very  seasonable  work  entitled 
"The  destinies  of  the  British  Empire,  and  the  duties  of  British 
Christians  at  the  present  crisis;"  and  ISIr.  Anderson,  of  Glas- 
gow, already  mentioned.!  Mr.  Cuninghame,  an  able  and  dis- 
tinguished writer,  who  has  advocated  these  views  now  for  a 
lengthened  period,  and  Mr.  Begg,  are  likewise  to  be  numbered 
among  the  dissenters  who  have  powerfully  pleaded  this  cause. 
The  genuine  truths  of  prophecy,  however,  and  even  the 
study  of  prophecy  itself,  has  sufiered  very  materially  in  the 
present  century:  at  first  from  the  intemperance  of  some  of  its 
advocates,  which  was  met  with  corresponding  heat  and  dog- 
matism by  some  of  its  opponents;  and  secondly,  and  most  ma- 
terially, from  the  circumstance,  that  most  of  those  carried  away 
by  the  Irvingite  error  and  delusion  entertain,  or  formerly  did 
entertain,  millenarian  opinions.  If  the  importance  of  any 
doctrine  may  be  judged  of  from  the  efforts  of  Satan  to  prejudice 
or  put  it  down,  then  assuredly  that  which  holds  up  to  the  view 
of  the  church,  the  hope  of  the  speedy  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
must  be  eminently  calculated  to  promote  personal  holiness  and 

♦  Mr.  Cox  has  been  noticed  before;  Mr.  Tyso  is  pastor  of  a  con^rejjation  at 
Wallingford,  and  has  published  an  able  and  original  work  called  "an  Enquiry 
after  Prophetic  truth,  relative  to  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  and  the  millen- 
nium, 1831,  8vo."  He  is  likewise  the  author  of  several  pieces  in  the  Investi- 
gator of  Prophecy. 

+  Mr.  Anderson  isaulhor  of  "an  Apolog;y  for  the  Millennial  doctrine,  in  the 
form  in  which  itjvas  entertained  by  the  primitive  church;"  two  parts  of  which 
have  appeared. 


§2       ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

watchfulness;  for  no  doctrine  has  the  great  enemy  endeavoured 
more  to  bring  reproach  upon.  Besides  the  efforts  which  have 
been  used  to  put  it  down  and  extinguish  it  altogether,  both  by- 
papists  and  by  men  of  ultra  views  among  the  protestants,  we 
have  found  it  charged  by  Eusebius  with  the  carnalities  of  Cerin- 
thus;  by  Jerome,  it  has  been  confounded  with  Jewish  fables; 
the  conduct  of  the  anabaptists  and  fifth  monarchy  men  has 
brought  on  it  the  reproach  of  having  a  seditious  tendency; 
whilst  the  conduct  of  the  Irvingites  has  induced  many  to  ap- 
prehend that  it  necessarily  leads  to  the  delusion  and  extrava- 
gance manifested  in  their  tenets  of  unknown  tongues,  im- 
mediate inspiration,  and  an  exclusive  separating  spirit.*  It 
is,  however,  now  recovering  from  the  shock;  and  it  must  not 
be  omitted  to  be  stated,  that  numerous  writers  have  appeared 
to  support  and  still  continue  to  advocate  the  millenarian  view 
of  prophecy,  whose  writings  are  distinguished  for  christian 
meekness,  sound  judgment  and  great  talent.  We  have  only  to 
mention  the  names,  among  the  clergy,  of  Bickersteth,  Burgh, 
Fry,  Girdlestone,  Hales,t  Hoare,  Hooper,  Hawtrey,  Marsh,  the 
Maitlands  of  Brighton  and  Gloucester,  Madden,  M'Neil,  Noel, 
Pym,  Sirr,  Sabin  and  Stuart;  and  among  the  laity,  Frere, 
Habershon,  Viscount  Mandeville,  T.  P.  Piatt,  Granville  Penn 
and  Wood,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  unprejudiced  reader.J 

It  has  been  objected  of  late  to  the  study  of  prophecy,  that  it 
has  a  tendency  to  lead  'to  miUenana?i  opinions,  which,  in  the 
minds  of  such  objectors,  constitute  of  themselves  a  species  of 
delusion.  The  writer  of  this  volume  fully  admits  that  the  study 
of  prophecy  Aas  this  tendency;  and  that,  in  proportion  as  men 
enter  deeply  into  it,  will  they  become  liable  to  fall  into  the 
millenarian  view.  But  he  is  fully  persuaded  that  the  mille- 
narian system  of  interpretation  is  the  onhj  true  keyio  the  under- 
standing of  the  prophecies,  and  indeed  to  the  unfolding  of  the 
sense  of  many  other  portions  of  holy  writ,  which  may  not 
strictly  be  termed  prophetical.  It  is  this  conviction,  together 
with  a  deep  sense  of  the  vast  practical  importance  of  the  doc- 
trine, more  especially  at  the  present  crisis,  that  has  induced 
him  to  enter  upon  the  inquiry,  which  he  has  here  brought  to  a 
conclusion;  and  he  trusts  it  has  now  been  satisfactorily  demon- 

*  The  fall  of  Mr.  Irving  is  greatlj- to  be  deplored,  for  previous  to  it,  when  he 
was  pursuing  the  path  of  a  rational  cliristian  expositor,  his  powerful  mind  threw 
much  light  on  prophecy;  and  his  earlier  works  are  still  valuable  to  the  student. 

t  See  his  work  on  Chronology. 

t  The  writer  of  this  volume  does  not  coincide  with  all  the  opinions  of  all 
these  writers;  they  are  mentioned  as  having  rendered  valuable  service  to  the 
cause  of  prophecy,  to  the  millenarian  view  of  it  in  particular.  Numerous 
other  publications  have  issued  from  the  press  on  this  subject,  and  are  continu- 
ally appearing:  but  for  these  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Didiunarii  of  Writers 
on  Prophecy,  published  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  Investigator,  and  also  sepa- 
rately. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      §3 

strated  to  be  the  trulh  of  God,  both  from  Scripture,  (as  shown  in 
the  former  chapter,)  and  also  from  tlic  concurrent  testimony, 
here  brought  forward,  oi  the  voice  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ON  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  PROPUECY. 

Having  noticed  what  appears  to  be  the  principal  design  and 
aim  of  all  prophecy,  and  confirmed  it  by  a  reference  to  the 
terms  of  the  Coveimnt  of  Promise,  and  to  the  ]\dce  of  the  Church 
in  the  best  periods  of  its  history;  the  next  step  will  be  to  in- 
quire into  the  principles  of  interpretation,  as  regards  the  terms, 
and  style,  and  structure  in  which  prophecy  is  conveyed  to  us. 

This  matter  is  likewise  of  fundamental  importance,  and 
much  has  been  written  upon  it  by  the  generality  of  expositors; 
whilst  yet  it  is  remarkable,  how  very  few  have  subsequently 
proceeded  in  their  interpretations  throughout  upon  a  consistent 
scriptural  principle.  Most  writers  on  this  subject  appear  to 
have  caught  in  the  first  instance,  some  particular  view  of  a  part 
or  the  wliole  of  the  prophetic  word,  and  then  to  have  laid  down 
canons  of  interpretation,  which  shall  f;ill  in  with  and  support 
their  previously  conceived  system.  JMr.  Faber's  rules,  for 
example,  much  as  he  is  looked  up  to  by  many  as  an  interpreter, 
are  almost  all  of  them  formed  upon  an  arbitrary  principle, 
without  even  a  reference  to  scripture  to  support  them;  and 
though  some  of  them  are  what  one's  reason  may  be  disposed 
to  acquiesce  in,  others  of  them  ought  to  be  viewed  with  hesi- 
tation until  they  are  proved  from  the  word  of  God.  It  is  the 
same  with  all  others,  whose  works  I  have  had  opportunity  to 
peruse,  if  they  have  entered  at  any  length  into  interpretation: 
however  speciously  they  may  set  out,  there  is  generally  some- 
thing introduced  for  which  there  is  no  warrant,  evidently  for 
the  purpose  of  subserving  some  particular  view  of  prophecy; 
though,  in  many  instances,  the  expositor  afterwards  loses  sight 
of  the  origin  of  his  canon,  and  refers  to  it  as  to  a  scriptural 
axiom,  when  perhaps  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  authority  for  it 
in  the  word  of  God. 

The  best  collection  of  rules  with  which  I  am  acquainted  are 
those  of  the  eminent  Vitringa.*     They  have  the  advantage  of 

*  The  reader  will  find  a  Translation  of  them  in  the  Investigator,  Vol.  IV 
pp.  153—176.       * 


84      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

having  been  in  general  composed  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating 
a  series  of  lectures  on  the  interpretation  of  prophecy,  which 
were  publicly  delivered  by  him  to  the  students  of  theology, 
and  in  which  he  was  necessarily  led  to  regard  the  whole 
scheme  and  structure  of  prophecy,  rather  than  any  particular 
portion  of  it.  But  even  these  will  be  found  in  numerous  in- 
stances of  an  arbitrary  character;  and  the  reader,  who  is 
acquainted  with  his  works  in  general,  will  likewise  discover, 
that  many  of  them  are  collected  thence,  and  have  a  special  re- 
gard to  portions  of  God's  word  which  he  had  already  interpreted. 

Such  being  the  case,  I  should  have  been  tempted  to  have 
passed  over  this  portion  of  our  subject,  from  a  conviction  of 
the  arduousness  of  the  path  which  lies  before  me;  were  it  not 
that  the  present  state  of  prophetical  investigation  appears  im- 
peratively to  require  some  notice  of  it.  There  is  a  tendency 
in  the  human  mind  to  run  into  extremes  on  almost  every  ques- 
tion that  needs  the  exercise  of  judgment  and  patient  inquiry. 
The  forsaking  the  plain  path  of  literal  interpretation,  which  is 
as  the  polar  star  of  the  expositor,  has  been  the  means  of  many 
having  been  carried  away  into  an  excess  of  allegory  and  meta- 
phor; the  perception  of  which  absurdities  has  led  others,  in 
attempting  to  regain  the  proper  track,  to  fall  into  a  system  of 
ultra-literalism,  equally  calculated  to  mislead.  These  two  ex- 
tremes are  as  the  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  which  the  expositor  of 
prophecy  has  carefully  to  steer  between. 

I  shall  limit  myself,  therefore,  to  the  notice  of  a  few  princi- 
ples of  interpretation,  to  which  we  are  directed  by  the  word  of 
God;  in  doing  which  my  object  is  not  to  prepare  the  student 
for  any  particular  theory  subsequently  to  be  advanced;  (for 
that  is  not  the  object  of  the  present  publication;)  but  to  prevent 
him  from  being  misled  by  the  specious  objections,  which  are 
by  writers  and  readers  of  every  shade  of  opinion  brought  for- 
ward at  times  against  an  interpretation,  which  does  not  fall  in 
with  their  views  or  prejudices:  so  that  he  may  at  least  not 
hastily  conclude  that  an  interpretation  is  wrong,  or  a  conclu- 
sion unjustifiable,  if  there  be  warrant  for  the  principle  on  which 
it  is  grounded  in  the  holy  scriptures.  At  the  same  time  the 
reader  must  be  apprized,  that  what  is  about  to  be  advanced  on 
this  head  conveys  but  a  very  imperfect  notion  of  all  that  may 
be  gathered  of  a  like  character  by  a  diligent  and  careful  study 
of  the  word  of  God:  to  commend  him  to  which, — so  that  he 
may  see  the  great  importance  of  exploring  the  mine  of  scrip- 
ture for  himself,  and  obtaining  thence  principles  of  interpreta- 
tion which  shall  be  useful  to  him,  not  only  as  regards  prophecy, 
but  other  subjects  likewise, — is  one  further  inducement  to  my 
entering  on  tliis  point. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      §5 

I.  I  shall  begin  first  with  a  broad  canon,  laid  down  as  a 
grand  fundamental  by  St.  Peter,  when  he  is  exhorting  us  to 
take  heed  unto  prophecy,  as  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark 
place,  &c. — ^^Knozn/ig  this^  first  (he  adds)  that  ?w  propheaj  of  I  he 
scripture  is  of  any  private  interpretation:  for  the  prophecy  came 
not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man;  but  holy  men  of  God  spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."     2  Peter  i.  19 — 21. 

Great  pains  have  been  taken,  by  means  of  hypercriticisms, 
to  make  this  passage  seem  to  utter  an  uncertain  sound;  whereby 
it  has  been  almost  entirely  deprived  of  its  practical  utility. 
But  the  plain  and  obvious  sense  of  it,  as  presented  to  us  in  our 
English  translation,  appears  to  me  to  correspond  best  with  the 
Greek,  and  with  the  evident  scope  and  intent  of  the  passage 
itself;  viz.  that  no  prophecy  is  to  be  explained  as  limited  to 
the  individual  circumstances  and  interests  of  any  one  man  or 
nation  prophesied  of,  nor  to  any  one  generation  only  of  the 
church;  but  that  it  has  a  reference  to  Christ,  in  himself,  or  in 
his  members  generally,  and  to  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  the  powers  opposed  to  it.  A  prophecy  may  appear, 
from  its  peculiar  phraseology  and  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  is  given,  to  have  a  merely  individual  or  local  concern; 
but  the  very  circumstance  that  those  who  uttered  it  "were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Gliost,"  ought,  when  duly  considered,  to 
lead  us  to  conclude,  that  it  must  have  some  relation,  remote  or 
otherwise,  to  the  general  concerns  of  the  church;  "the  spirit 
of  prophecy"  having  always  for  its  object  to  bear  testimony 
to  the  things  of  Christ.  This  is  evident,  from  Rev.  xix.  10, 
where  the  angel  claims  brotherhood  with  John,  on  account  of 
the  testimony  to  Jesus,  which  he  (the  angel)  had  given  by  the 
spirit  of  propheaj;  which  is  the  more  remarkable,  seeing  that 
declaration  occurs  on  the  close  of  the  setting  forth  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  great  anti-chrisjian  polity,  and  the  final  triumph  of 
the  saints,*  and  which  are  thus  indirectly  declared  to  be  part 
of  the  testimon}'  of  Jesus. 

In  order  to  illustrate  the  force  of  this  prophetical-canon,  we 
may  turn  to  the  epistles  to  tlie  seven  churclics  of  Asia.  Rev. 
ii.  and  iii.  These  are  generally  admitted  to  contain  in  them 
prophetical  matter,  as  may  at  once  be  seen  by  a  reference  to 
them.  For  to  Ephesus  it  is  foretold,  that  her  candlestick 
♦  Bishop  Hard  has  remarked,  but  without  restin^j  his  observation  on  any 
tangible  scripture  authority,  "that  prophecy,  in  general,  haih  its  ultimate 
accomplishment  in  the  history  and  dispensation  of  Jesus,"  and  that  though  the 
■immediate  object  was  some  other,  yet  it  never  loses  sight  of  that  in  which  it 
■was  ultimately  to  find  its  repose."  Vol.  i.  p.  41,  G2.  Mr.  Faber  makes  use  of 
2  Peter  i.  20.  to  a  certain  extent,  translating  it  thus: — "Now  no  prophecy  is  of 
its  own  insulated  interpretation;''  by  which  he  appears  to  mean,  that  every 
prophecy  is  part  and  parcel  of  that  general  scheme  which  concerns  the  Church, 
and  is  not  to  be  interpreted  independently  and  exclusively  of  the  whole. 


86        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

should  be  removed;  (ii.  5.)  to  Smyrna,  that  they  should  en- 
dure a  tribulation  often  days;  (ii.  10.)  to  Thyatira,  that  the  false 
prophetess,  Jezebel,  and  those  who  committed  adultery  with  her, 
should  be  cast  into  tribulation;  (ii.  22,  23.)  to  Sardis,  that  the 
Lord  would  come  on  her  as  a  thief;  (iii.  3.)  to  Philadelphia, 
that  the  synagogue  of  Satan  should  come  and  worship  before 
her  feet,  and  also  that  she  should  be  kept  from  that  hour  of 
tribulation  which  was  coming  on  all  the  world.  Nevertheless, 
Bishop  Halifax,  in  his  Warburtonian  Lectures,  (p.  233.)  en- 
tirely discountenances  the  idea  of  there  being  anything  of  a 
generally  prophetical  character  in  this  portion  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse; as  also  do  some  others:  and  we  must,  therefore,  accord- 
ing to  these,  view  the  prophetical  matter  cited  above,  as  limited 
to  the  local  circumstances  of  the  churches,  and  seek  for  no 
other  fulfilment  than  such  as  may  be  pointed  to  in  the  histori- 
cal events  of  that  period,  when  these  churches  existed.  This, 
then,  is  to  give  to  the  prophetical  matter,  clearly  contained  in 
the  epistles  to  them,  2i  private  interprelalion;  forbidding  entirely 
all  notion  of  these  churches  sustaining  any  typical  character;  or 
that  there  can  be  any  ultimate  and  more  ample  fulfilment  of 
what  is  foretold  of  them,  to  be  accomplished  in  the  general 
history  of  the  church.*  Without  offering  any  interpretation 
of  the  epistles  to  these  churches,  these  things  are  thrown  out 
to  illustrate  the  canon  of  interpretation  now  before  us. 

The  apostolic  canon,  just  cited,  is  of  very  extensive  use,  and 
necessarily  leads  to  the  admission  of  the  principle  of  a  two-fold 
sense,  or  of  a  two-fold  application,  to  be  looked  for  in  the  gene- 
rality of  prophecy.  The  majority  of  expositors  have  indeed 
already  advocated  the  principle  of  a  two-fold  sense  of  prophe- 
cy, to  be  looked  for  in  certain  instances;  t  but  I  am  not  aware 
of  any  who  take  their  warrant  for  so  doing  from  this  precept  of 
St.  Peter,  or  who  advance  any  clear  and  satisfactory  scripture 
foundation  for  it  as  a  general  rule. 

1.  The  common  sense  view  of  the  matter  might  direct  us 
to  look  for  a  farther  fulfilment,  when  a  prophecy,  in  its  prima- 
ry application  to  events,  does  not  receive  an  adequate  accom- 

*Mr.  Frere,  likewise  considers  the  expression — "ihe  things  which  are," 
(Rev.  i.  19.)  to  relate  to  the  condition  of  those  Churches,  as  they  existed  in 
the  time  of  St.  John;  and  seems  to  view  the  Epistles  to  them  as  having  only 
for  their  object,  "the  suppoit  and  comfort  of  these  Churches,  during  the  period 
of  Pagan  persecution."  That  they  had  this  object  primarilij  in  view,  there 
can  be  little  doubt;  but  that  this  was  their  vUiviale  scope  and  object,  there  is 
abundant  reason  to  question,  independent  of  the  rule  now  under  consideration. 

t  Vitringa  says  (speaking  of  the  double  sense)  this  was  the  mode  of  inter- 
pretation the  ancient  interpreters  and  those  of  the  middle  ages  have  in  every 
instance  chosen;  as  also  most  of  those  eminent  men  who  aided  the  Reforma- 
tion, as  Luther,  Brentius,  Pellican,  Bibliander,  Bugcnhagius,  Snoius;  and,  in 
the  last  age,  Cocceius  and  Altingius."  De  Canon.  Verb.  Proph.  recta  Expos, 
c.  ii.  and  c.  xii. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      §7 

plishmenl;  for  it  is  contradictory  to  the  solemn  affirmation  of 
Jesus,  to  suppose  that  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  any  wise 
pass  from  the  law  or  the  prophets,  but  that  all  shall  be  fulfil- 
led.* JNIatt.  V.  17,  IS.  Let  us,  however,  turn  to  Isaiah  xlv. 
where  we  have  a  prophecy,  which  those  ultra  literalists  who 
follow  the  method  of  Grotius  consider  as  referring  to  the  power 
which  Cyrus  exercised,  in  behalf  of  the  Jews,  on  their  return 
from  Babylonish  captivity;  and  though  the  historical  details 
are  greatly  deficient,  as  to  any  proof  of  the  adequate  fulfilment 
of  numerous  particulars,  it  is  attributed  merely  to  an  inflated 
and  hyperbolical  style  adopted  by  the  prophets,  which  carried 
them  out  beyond  the  literal  matter  of  fact.  Thus  is  the  cliurch 
at  large  deprived  of  the  use  of  this  prophecy:  saving  that  mea- 
gre application  of  it,  which  consists  in  the  evidence  to  be  de- 
rived therefrom  to  the  truth  of  God  in  other  things,  contained 
in  other  prophecies,  which  it  is  imagined  do  concern  the  church 
in  general.!  A  reference  to  the  actions  of  Cyrus  in  this  chap- 
ter cannot  be  disputed,  seeing  that  he  is  mentioned  by  name  in 
it;  but  it  happens  likewise  that  verse  23  is  twice  quoted  by  St. 
Paul,  as  having  a  reference — not  to  that  limited  and  imperfect 
state  of  prosperity  which  ensued  to  the  Church,  on  its  return 
from  Babylon;  (if  indeed  that  part  of  the  prophecy  could  then 
be  said  to  have  been  fulfilled  at  all,)  but  to  a  period  when 
"every  knee  shall  bow  before  the  Lord,  and  every  one  give  ac- 
count of  himself  to  God."l  Compare  Rom.  xiv.  11,  12,  and 
Phil.  ii.  10:  the  words,  "for  it  is  written,"  in  the  former  of 
which  places,  evidently  sliow  that  it  is  quoted  from  some  por- 
tions of  God's  word;  and  there  is  no  other,  that  I  am  aware  of, 
from  which  it  could  be  derived. 

By  the  same  rule,  then,  we  shall  be  justified,  when  we  con- 
sider the  prophecy  respecting  Babylon,  in  Jeremiah  1.  and  li. 
in  assigning  to  it  a  two-fold  sense;  the  one  referring  to  the 
taking  of  Babylon  by  the  Afedes,  therein. explicitly  mentioned, 
(li.  11,  2S;)  the  other  referring  to  the  destruction  of  the  ipysti- 
cal  Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse;  at  which  time  we  may  expect 

♦  So  far  as  regards  the  practice  of  the  ancient  Church,  Bishop  Lowth  ob- 
serves: "It  seems  to  have  been  a  maxim  in  interpreting  prophecy,  received 
among  the  Jews  before  the  time  of  Christ,  that  wherever  they  perceived  an 
imperfect  completion  of  prophecy  in  an  historical  event,  which  iio  way  answer- 
ed to  the  lofty  expressions  and  extensive  promises,  which  the  natural  sense  of 
the  text  imparled,  therethey  supposed  the  times  of  the  Messiah  to  be  ultimate- 
ly intended." 

+  Daubuz,  when  speaking  of  the  expositions  of  Grotius,  calls  them  "sneaking 
and  mean  interpretations  of  the  holy  prophecies,  which  are,  on  that  very  score 
of  their  meanness,  to  be  rejected."     On  the  Revel,  page  15. 

t  The  manner  in  which  this  verse  of  the  prophecy  is  applied  by  St.  Paul 
will  throw  additional  light  on  the  promise  to  the  "Church  of  Philadelphia, 
(Rev.  jii.  9.)  and  justify  the  inference,  that  the  Epistles  to  those  Churches  are 
those  of  a  general  prophetical  character. 


gg      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Israel  will  be  made  the  Lord's  "battle-axe  and  weapon  of  war," 
(v.  19.,)  and  "the  slain  of  all  the  earth  to  fall;"  with  many 
other  circumstances,  which  either  were  not  accomplished  at 
all,  at  the  taking  of  that  city  by  the  JVIedes  in  the  time  of  Cy- 
rus, or  which  were  but  very  inadequately  fulfilled. 

(2.)  The  next  class  of  prophecies  which  may  be  noticed,  are 
those  in  which  the  fulfilment  is  inadequate,  not  so  much  from 
the  historical  event  exhibitino;  but  a  slight  and  very  imperfect 
sketch,  with  much  evident  omission  of  detail  when  compared 
with  the  prophetical  description;  but  when  the  events  ful- 
filled correspond  in  magnitude  with  what  is  predicted,  whilst 
other  features  of  the  prophecy  have  not  received  a  shadow  of 
fulfilment.  Thus,  in  Zechariahxii.  9-14,  we  have  an  instance 
of  a  prophecy  fulfilled  only  in  one  single  circumstance,  at  its 
primary  accomplishment.  The  prophecy  relates  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  nations  which  shall  come  against  Jerusalem,  and 
the.  spirit  of  supplication  and  penitence  which  shall  be  mani- 
fested by  Israel;  who  shall  then  look  on  him  zohom  they  have 
pierced,  and  mour7i.  Now  verse  10.  is  pointed  to  by  St.  John 
(chap.  xix.  37.)  as  fulfilled  at  the  crucifixion;  and  so  it  was 
most  literally,  so  far  as  the  piercing  Jesus  then  took  place;  but 
there  was  no  national  mourning  then  of  the  Jews,  neither  any 
destruction  of  the  nations  coming  against  Jerusalem.  This 
prophecy  therefore  does  not  so  much  regard  a  twofold  seiise,  as 
a  twofold  periW;  and  tlie  piercing  Jesus  must  consequently  be 
regarded  as  but  an  inchoate  fulfilment,  whereby  he  is  already 
pointed  out  to  the  church,  as  the  Shepherd  of  Israel  and  the 
equal  of  God,  mentioned  in  the  13th  chapter  of  Zechariah, 
who  was  to  be  smitten.  And  notwithstanding  the  long  gap 
between  the  fulfilment  of  the  one  part  of  the  prophecy  and  the 
other,  we  must  nevertheless  look  for  a  period  when  Israel 
shall  nationally  look  on  him  and  mourn,  and  inquiring,  ''What 
are  these  wounds  in  thine  hands?"  be  informed,  that  they  are 
"those  with  which  he  was  wounded  in  the  house  of  his 
friends,"  (v.  6.)  when  "he  came  to  his  own,  and  his  own  re- 
ceived him  not."     John  i.  11. 

Joel  ii.  28,  is  likewise  another  instance  of  inchoate  fulfil- 
ment; the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  therein  mentioned, 
having  been  declared  by  St.  Peter  to  have  been  accomplished 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost  (Acts  ii.  16 — 21.)  But  instead  of  the 
Lord  "in  those  days  and  at  that  time,"  bringing  again  the  cap- 
tivity of  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  and  taking  vengeance  on  the 
nations,  (Joel  iii.  1 — 17.)  Judah  loe?^  into  captivity,  and  the 
Gentiles  have  trodden  down  Jerusalem  unto  this  day.* 

♦  The  expression  "aftenoard,"  in  Joel  ii.  28,— "And  it  shall  come  to  pass 
"afterward^'    (nn«  Heb.  [Arru.  nroMTo.  Sept.)  that  I  will  pour  out  my  spirit," — 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  LNTEPvPRETATION.        gQ 

(3.)  In  like  manner  a  key  will  be  found  to  the  understand- 
ing tliose  prophecies,  in  which  the  first  and  second  advents  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  are  involved.  In  most  instances  tiicy  apparent- 
ly refer  to  a  twofold  period  only,  and  the  particulars  which 
apply  to  each  may  be  readily  separated.  Thus  JNIr.  Mode,  on 
Isaiah  ix.  observes:  "That  the  old  prophets  (for  the  most  part) 
speak  of  the  coming  of  Christ  indefinitely  and  in  general,  with- 
out tliat  distinction  oi first  and  second  coming,  whicli  the  gospel 
out  of  Daniel  hath  more  clearly  taught  us;  and  so  consequently 
they  spake  of  the  things  of  Christ's  coming  indefinitely  and  al- 
together, which  we,  who  are  now  more  fully  informed  by  a 
revelation  of  the  gospel  of  a/ic(yi</(/coming,  must  apply  each  of 
them  to  its  proper  time;  those  things  which  befit  the  state  of 
unto  it;  and  such  tilings  as  befit  the  state  of 
and  what  befits  both  alike 
may  be  applied  unto  both."  (Works,  fol.  755.)  In  some  in- 
stances, liowever,  the  context  would  lead  one,  from  the  inade- 
quate fulfilment  of  the  particulars  relating  to  the  first  advent, 
to  expect  a  repelUioJi  and  more  complete  accomplishment  of  them 
at  the  second  advent. 

An  example  may  be  found  in  Psalm  ii.  where,  besides  the 
^^privale  interpretation"  of  it  to  the  family  of  David,  which  was 
probably  understood  in  his  days,  we  have  apparently  a  tv/ofold 
reference  to  the  times  of  the  ^lessiah.  For  it  is  quoted.  Acts 
iv.  25,  as  having  received  a  fulfilment  in  the  gathering  of  Herod 
and  Pilate  against  Jesus.  But  the  scope  of  tliat  Psalm  points  (as 
do  most  of  tlie  prophecies,)  to  a  period  of  judgment  on  the 
ungodly  coa/t/io/i  therein  described,  for  which  there  was  no  pre- 
cedent in  the  times  of  the  apostle.  For  the  judgment  which  fell 
on  the  Jews  by  the  instrumentality  of  Titus  is  inadequate,  see- 
ing it  was  inflicted,  not  on  both  the  parties  who  formed  this 
monstrous  coalition,  but  by,one  of  the  parties  on  the  other.  So 
that  what  was  then  transacted  was  but  a  partial  fulfilment  of 

the  context  of  which  would  lead  one  to  expect  this  oiitpourins;  after  the  gieat 
day  of  the  destruction  of  the  northern  army  and  other  enemies  of  Israel,  has 
induced  many  interpreters  to  view  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  as  only  an  inchoate  cjfusion,  and  that  we  may  expect  another  in  the 
great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord:  so  that  while  he  poui-s  out  of  the  viab  of  his 
"wrath  on  his  enemies,  he  will  shed  abundantly  from  the  vials  of  his  mercy 
on  his  church.  This  expectation  is  thought  to  be  further  justified  from  verse 
23,  and  from  Zech.  x.  1,  where  mention  is  made  of  a  '-former  and  latter  rain;" 
to  which  St.  James  is  supposed  to  refer,  chap.  v.  7,  and  to  allude  to  a  second 
effusion  of  the  Spirit.  I  oiler  no  opinion  on  this  expectation:  I  would. only 
further  point  out  to  the  reader,  as  worthy  of  observation,  that  when  St.  Peter 
quotes  this,  he  changes  the  expression  "aftcncard"  to  '-lasf  days,"  without  any 
Avarrant  cither  from  the  Hebrew  or  Greek  texts;  though  doubtless  he  was 
moved  by  the  Spirit  so  to  do.  And  again  it  should  be  remarked,  that  St.  Paul 
quotes  Joel  ii.  32;(see  Rom.  x.  13.)  as  applicable  to  his  generation;  showing 
that  «we  event  of  tjie  prophecy  being  fulfilled,  believers  might  lake  it  as  a  token 
to  call  on  the  Lord  for  salvation,  iii  the  fullest  sense,  at  all  times. 
VOL.   II. — S 


90        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

their  taking  counsel  against  the  Lord,  and  of  their  machinations 
being  frustrated,  or  overruled  for  good.  It  remains  therefore 
to  be  more  fully  accomplished  at  the  second  advent  of  Christ. 

Malachi  iv.  5.  presents  us  with  an  instance  in  which  a  two- 
fold fulfilment  of  a  part  of  the  prophecy  is  clearly  to  be  expect- 
ed, at  the  same  time  that  a  portion  of  it  will  only  receive  one  ful- 
filment.— "Behold  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet,  before 
the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord,"  The 
context  shows  that  this  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord  is 
one,  wherein  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  shall  burn  like  an  oven 
against  all  the  proud  and  wicked,  who  shall  be  burnt  up  as 
stubble,  and  the  righteous  shall  tread  them  down  as  ashes 
under  the  soles  of  their  feet.  Verse  5  we  know,  from  our 
Saviour's  testimony,  received  a  primary  fulfilment  in  John 
the  Baptist,  who  came  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah;  and, 
judging  from  JVIatt.  xvii.  11, — "Elias  truly  shall  first  come  and 
restore  all  things,"  spoken  by  our  Lord  before  he  passed  on 
to  speak  of  John  the  Baptist — a  coming  of  the  actual  Elijah  is 
still  to  be  expected.  For  it  would  be  contradictory  in  our 
Lord  to  speak  of  it  as  a  thing  ft/ 1  lire  ("Elias  truly  shall  first 
come,")  and  as  of  a  thing  past,  ("But  I  say  unto  you,  that  Elias 
is  come  already,")  in  the  same  breath.  Certainly  the  fathers  of 
the  primitive  Christian  Church,  down  to  the  time  of  Jerome, 
looked  for  a  coming  of  the  actual  Elijah;  and  under  any  view 
of  the  prophecy,  the  scope  of  it  already  pointed  out  was  not 
fulfilled;  neither  was  there  any  resiitution  of  all  things,  as  stated 
by  our  Lord  there  should  be,  in  his  mention  of  Elijah  quoted 
above, 

2.  Another  important  principle  of  interpretation,  intimately 
connected  with  the  canon  of  the  apostle,  and  indeed  flowing 
from  it,  comes  next  to  be  noticed.  There  is  evidently,  from 
what  has  already  been  instanced  from  the  prophecies,  espe- 
cially from  Joel  and  Zechariah,  a  period  arriving,  when  the 
affairs  of  the  church  of  Christ  shall  be  brought  to  a  grand  crisis. 
Previous  to  it,  the  carnal  enmity  of  all  mere  professors  will  be 
made  manifest  by  a  universal  spirit  of  apostacy,  in  which 
the  form  of  godliness  shall  alone  be  seen,  and  none  shall  be 
valiant  for  the  truth;  (see  2  Tim.  iii.  and  numerous  places  in 
the  Old  Testament:)  and  this  will  bring  on  a  period  of  great 
tribulation  and  peril  to  the  church,  and  to  the  Jews  in  particu- 
lar; but  out  of  it  there  will  be  a  marvellous  deliverance  and  ex- 
altation of  the  Lord's  people,  with  a  great  destruction  of  his 
enemies,  accompanied,  or  immediately  followed,  by  the  re- 
surrection from  the  dead  and  the  commencement  of  the  millen- 
nial dispensation. 

Now  this  CRISIS  is  continually  regarded  in  the  prophecies:  I 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPPvETATION.        QJ 

may  indeed  with  safety  assert,  tliat  it  is  alu-ays  regarded  when 
judgment  and  vengeance  are  spoken  of.*  For  tills  rule  of  St. 
Peter,  in  order  to  be  applicable  to  every  generation  of  the 
church  during  its  time  state,  necessarily  requires  the  period  of 
judgment  to  be  so  far  procrastinated,  as  that  the  last  generation 
of  believers  shall  be  able  to  make  practical  use  of  it:  otherwise, 
it  would  still  be  to  that  generation  of  the  church  of  private  or 
limited  interpretation,  excluding  them  from  any  direct  con- 
cern in  it.  This  will  be  found  a  useful  clue  to  the  right  under- 
standing of  the  Psalms;  in  which  the  constant  allusions  to  the 
actions  and  spirit  of  the  ungodly, — to  their  triumphing  for  a 
time,  and  to  their  punishment  at  last, — however  they  may  pri- 
marily refer  to  the  spirit  of  insubordination  exhibited  in  David's 
time,  have  a  more  direct  reference  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
ungodly  in  the  latter  days,  to  the  complaints  thereupon  of 
Christ  in  his  members,  and  to  the  rising  up  at  lengh  of  Jeho- 
vah to  avenge  them,  and  to  set  them  at  liberty  from  him  that 
puffeth  at  them. 

Another  proof  of  crisis  being  regarded  in  prophecy,  is  the 
circumstance  of  a  promise,  which  apparently  has  respect  to 
something  that  has  been  afterwards  fulfilled,  being  nevertlieless 
sustained  and  carried  forward  beyond  the  period  of  fulfilment, 
even  though  we  can  find  no  circumstances  from  which  we  can 
clearly  and  expressly  infer  that  the  fulfilment  was  inadequate. 
An  instance  may  be  taken  from  Psalm  xcv.:  "Forty  years  long 
was  I  grieved  with  this  generation,  and  said.  It  is  a  people  that 
do  err  in  their  hearts,  and  they  have  not  known  my  ways: 
unto  whom  I  sware  in  my  wrath,  that  they  should  not  enter 
into  my  rest."  This  appears  clearly  to  refer  in  the  context 
to  that  generation  of  Israelites  whose  carcasses  fell  in  the  wil- 
derness, they  not  being  permitted  to  sec  the  promised  land; 
and  this  circumstance  decielcdly  fixes  the  primary  application 
of  the  rest  spoken  of  to  the  land  of  Canaan.  But  to  limit  the 
application  of  it  to  Canaan  would  be  to  make  the  prediction  of 
"private  interpretation;"  and  accordingly  we  find  the  apostle 
still  applying  it  in  his  days  to  the  generation  in  which  he  lived; 
and  he  argues,  that  as  the  psalmist  had  done  the  same  to  the 
men  of  his  generation,  so  long  after  the  rest  into  which  they 
were  led  by  Joshua,  therefore  there  must  yet  "remain  a  rest 
to  the  people  of  God.      Heb.  iii. 

But  it  is  not  only  matter  of  a  (\\vQc\\y  prophetical  character 


*  This  looking  of  ail  prophecy  toward  crisis  has  not  been  unobserved  in  this 
particular  by  Bishop  Lowth,  who,  on  Isa.  x.  20,  observes,  'that  it  is  usual  with 
the  prophets,  when  they  foretel  some  extraordinary  event  in  or  near  their  own 
times,  to  carry  their  views  farther,  and  point  at  some  g:reat  deliverance  which 
God  shall  vouchsafe  to  his  people  in  the  latter  ages  of  the  world.' 


92        ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

that  it  is  thus  deferred  to  the  period  of  crisis.  I  may  go  far- 
ther and  say,  that  almost  every  object  of  religious  interest  is 
deferred  as  to  its  fulness  and  completeness  to  the  same  time. 
Is  it  rest? — it  remaineth  (as  we  have  seen,)  and  is  to  be  ulti- 
mately bestowed  on  us  "when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed 
from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels."  2  Thess.  i.  7.  Is  it 
grace? — though  given  now,  still,  as  to  its  consummation,  "it  is 
to  be  brought  unto  us  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ."  1  Pet. 
i.  13.  Is  it  salvaiion?  in  numerous  instances  it  is  described  as 
"ready  to  be  revealed  ui  the  last  lime.''  1  Peter  i.  5.  And  to 
the  same  crisis,  allusion  is  repeatedly  made  by  the  use  of  the 
phrase  ^Hhat  day:"  and  it  is  highly  probable  that  every  portion 
of  scripture  shall  at  that  period  possess  a  peculiar  utility;  so 
that  things  which  appear  now  really  to  be  of  private  applica- 
tion, and  to  respect  local  or  temporary  peculiarities,  will  then 
acquire  a  more  immediate  practical  character,'  and  it  shall  be 
found  then  that  '^all  scripture  is  profitable."  See  for  instances 
of  this.  Matt.  vii.  22;  Luke  x.  12,  xxi.  34;  2  Thess.  i.  10; 
2  Tim.  i.  2,  IS,  iv.  8.  And  if  we  are  now  passing  into  that 
crisis,  (which  all  things  seem  manifestly  to  indicate,)  how  im- 
portant it  is  that  the  people  of  God  should  diligently  study  his 
word,  and  specially  take  heed  unto  prophecy! 

3.  There  is  yet  another  principle  of  interpretation,  which 
must  be  mentioned,  as  connected  with  the  great  rule  now 
under  consideration:  and  that  is  the  fulfilment  of  certain  cir- 
cumstances of  a  prophecy  as  a  sign  and  pledge  of  the  fulfilment 
of  the  remainder.  Thus  in  the  prophecies  which  have  already 
been  noticed,  the  incipient  accomplishment  of  a  part  is  a  token 
and  assurance  to  us  of  the  remainder  being  fulfilled  at  the  time 
of  crisis;  and  those  which  have  been  fulfilled  primarily  in  an 
accommodated  sense,  or  by  circumstances  inadequate  to  the 
express  terms  of  the  prophecy,  afford  us  a  pledge  of  a  more 
complete  accomplishment  ultimately  in  a  sense  that  can  have 
no  imperfect,  contracted,  or  private  application.  In  this  view, 
the  piercing  of  Jesus,  and  the  Pentecostal  effusion  of  the  Spirit, 
are  signs  and  pledges  of  the  future  fulfilment  of  all  that  is  fore- 
told in  Zech.  xii.  and  Joel  ii.  iii.  The  coming  of  John  Baptist 
in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah,  is  a  pledge  of  some  other 
great  fore-runner  as  the  herald  of  Christ's  second  advent;  and 
the  enjoyment  of  Canaan  by  the  Israelites,  is  a  pledge  of  the 
rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God.  In  the  latter  in- 
stance it  appears  clearly  ])redicted  as  such,  as  I  have  endea- 
voured to  prove  at  page  23;  the  covenant  then  made  with 
Abraham  being  intended  as  the  assurance  for  himself,  (see  Ileb. 
vi.  \C),  17,)  for  it  had  in  it  all  the  solemnity  of  an  oath;  and 
the  subsequent  affliction  of  his  posterity  in  a  strange  land,  and 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   93 

their  ultimate  possession  of  Canaan  ''in  ihc  fourth  generation," 
being  designed  as  a  pledge  for  the  church  at  large. 

In  like  manner  it  has  been  shewn,  (jiage  24)  that  the  pro- 
mise to  Sarah  of  a  seed  born  in  a  miraculous  manner,  and  at  a 
set  lime,  is  a  sign  and  pledge  of  the  promised  seed  of  the 
woman  ultimately  intended;  since  the  promise  is  sustained  and 
carried  forward  after  the  birtii  of  Isaac.  And  so  the  promises 
made  to  the  seed  of  David,  which  were  primarily  fulfilled  in 
Solomon,  are  sustained  and  carried  forward  by  the  Spirit  after 
the  death  of  Solomon;  (see  Jer.  xxxiii.  19 — 22,  &c.)  whence 
the  ancient  church  evidently  appropriated  them  to  JNIessiah, 
and  addressed  him,  when  he  appeared,  as  the  seed  of  David. 
See  JNIatt.  xii.  23,  xxi.  9,  xxii.  42,  &c. 

4.  I  am  aware  that  the  principle  which  has  been  contended 
for  is  open  to  the  objection,  that  in  some  instances  the  inter- 
pretations suggested  would  seem  to  make  a  three  fold  MCAment. 
For,  in  the  last  mentioned  case,  the  private  and  limited  ful- 
filment to  the  seed  of  David  was  in  Solomon,  who  was  a  sign 
and  pledge  of  the  "greater  than  Solomon;"  and  yet  when  the 
predictions  concerning  David's  seed  came  to  be  in  the  second 
place  fulfilled  in  what  Mede  calls  the  magnalia  of  prophecy, 
they  have  only  an  inchoate  fulfilment  in  Christ;  there  being 
many  things  mixed  up  with  the  promises  (such  as  that  Christ 
should  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  father  David,)  which  have  even 
yet  not  come  to  pass;  so  that  we  must  take  what  was  fulfilled 
in  Christ  only  as  an  earnest  of  a  future  complete  accomplish- 
ment of  all  that  remains.  I  would  here  then,  in  respect  to 
such  an  objection,  beg  the  reader  to  observe,  that  I  am  not 
contending  for  so  much  as  a  two-fold  fulfilment  in  some  in- 
instances;  nor  would  I  liniit  the  principle  to  a  /zi-o-fold  fulfil- 
ment only,  even  in  those  instances  in  which  more  than  one 
fulfilment  is  to  be  sought  fo?. 

The  great  thing  to  be  observed  is,  that  no  prophecy  is  of 
private  intcrprelalion.  If  therefore  a  prophecy  seems  at  orice  to 
refer  to  that  crisis  or  to  those  circumstances  which  must  appeal 
to  the  hope  and  expectations  of  every  generation  of  the  church 
in  its  time  state,  I  see  no  need,  if  there  have  Iieen  no  inchoate 
or  primary  fulfilment,  to  insist  on  one.*  Whereas  on  the 
other  hand,  as  the  Spirit  of  God  has  not  limited  us  to  a  two-fold 
fulfilment,  but  only  warned  us  against  that  which  savours  of  a 

♦  2  Peter  iii.  is  a  case  in  point;  the  prophetical  matter  contained  in  which, 
refers,  in  tke  first  instance,  to  the  crisis  which  has  been  spoken  of";  and  there- 
lure  no  double  fulfilment  need  be  looked  for.  This  is  no  exception  to  the  rule 
that  no  prophecy  is  of  private  interpretation;  but  to  the  applicatiun  0^  lhdi\  xxk\& 
to  a  tioo-JdldfulfUihent  of  prophecy  in  all  instances. 
7* 


94      ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

private  interpretation,  I  see  no  reason  to  limit  the  principle 
out  of  deference  to  any  system  or  axiom  of  man  with  which  it 
may  conflict.  God  hath  held  up  manifold  types  of  Christ,  in 
his  characters  of  prophet,  priest  and  king,  as  signs  and  pledges 
to  the  church:  what  prevents  him  from  setting  forth  manifold 
fulfilments  of  more  open  prophecy,  or  parts  of  it,  for  the  same 
purpose? 

It  is  indeed  the  very  character  of  the  Lord's  dealings  with 
his  people,  to  multiply  signs  and  tokens  for  their  comfort  or 
assurance.  See,  for  instance,  in  regard  to  the  captivity  and 
deliverance  of  Israel.  They  first  undergo  affliction  in  Egypt, 
the  sign  of  which  to  Ahraham,  when  it  is  foretold,  is  the  hor- 
ror of  great  darkness,  (Gen.  xv.  12.)  Without  insisting  on 
the  intermediate  short  periods  of  bondage  to  the  Philistines 
and  others,  we  may  pass  next  to  the  Babylonish  captivity,  of 
which  they  were  apprised  by  many  signs  and  types  pointed  to 
by  Jeremiah  and  others:  among  others  may  be  mentioned  the 
death  of  Hananiah  (Jer.  xxviii.  12-17.)  within  a  specified 
time;  which  not  only  operated  as  a  punishment  upon  him  for 
his  falsehood,  but  would  prove  a  signal  to  the  survivors  of  the 
certainty  that  Nebuchadnezzar  would  prevail.*  Then,  thirdly, 
we  have  the  captivity  and  dispersion  now  endured  by  the 
Jews,  of  which  those  two  previously  experienced  were  only 
types;  and  which  present  dispersion  will  endure  till  the  crisis 
arrives,  or,  in  other  words,  till  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  are 
fulfilled.  In  like  manner,  the  Lord  has  set  forth  their  deliver- 
ance. First  there  was  the  prediction  of  the  Exodus  from  the 
Egyptian  house  of  bondage,  (Gen.  xv.  14-16.)  and  when  the 
time  of  deliverance  arrived,  God  gives  to  Moses,  among  other 
signs,  this  prophetical  one,  as  a  token  that  the  whole  was  of 
God;  viz.  that  when  the  people  were  brought  forth,  they 
should  worship  God  in  the  mount  Iloreb;  (Exod.  iii.  12.)  and 
many  signs  and  wonders  did  God  work  by  jNIoses,  for  the  as- 
surance of  the  people,  most  of  which  were  first  predicted,  tliough 
the  space  between  the  prediction  and  the  fulfihrient  was  very 
brief.  Now  this  Exodus  is  a  pledge  of  another  deliverance, 
not  yet  fulfilled,  so  signal  in  its  character,  that  the  former  will 
no  longer  be  spoken  of,  (Jer.  xvi.  14,  15.)  but  in  the  mean- 
while there  was  the  deliverance  from  Babylon,  which  the 
church  of  a  former  generation  was  likewise  encouraged  to 
hope   for,  on    the    strength  of  the  deliverance   from  Egypt, 

*  Another  sign  is  given  to  a  remnant  who  persisted  afterwards  in  going  into 
Egypt,  To  assure  them,  that  they  should  nevertheless  be  consumed,  which 
was  then  predicted,  they  are  informed,  that  the  king  of  Egypt  should  presently 
be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies.    See  Jer.  xliv.  :29,  30. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPflETICAL  INTERPRETATION,      95 

(Isaiah  Ixiii.  10 — 12;*)  and  this  deliverance,  when  it  occurred, 
became  a  further  pledge  and  token  of  the  ultimate  transcen- 
dent one. 

Isaiah  xxxvii,  andxxxviii.  contain  likewise  express  propheti- 
cal signs  of  the  great  deliverance;  the  one  sign  more  imme- 
diately for  Ilczekiah,  consisting  of  the  shadow  of  the  sun-dial 
of  Ahaz  returning  backward,  wiiich  could  only  be  known  to  a 
few  individuals,  the  other  being  for  the  whole  nation,  and  of 
such  a  character  therefore,  that  none  could  fail  of  observing 
its  accomplishment,  viz.  that  tliey  should  cat  that  year  such  as 
groweth  of  itself;  and  the  second  year  that  which  springeth  of 
the  same;  and  in  the  third  year  they  were  to  sow,  and  reap, 
and  plant  vineyards,  and  eat  the  fruit  thereof,  (xxxvii.  30.) 
And  this  is  further  connected  historically  with  a  great  deliver- 
ance from  the  Assyrians,  (v.  36,  38.) 

A  two-fold  sign  is  also  given  in  Isaiah  vii. — ix.  of  a  remark- 
able character,  which  is  not  always  clearly  seen  by  interpre- 
ters. It  is  in  connection  with  the  eminent  promise  that  a 
virgin  should  conceive  and  bear  a  son,  whose  name  sliould  be 
called  Lnmamiel,  (vii.  14. )  who  is  also  expressly  given  as  a  si^7i; 
but  to  the  generations  intervening  before  his  birth,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  generation  of  Ahaz,  the  son  of  the  prophetess,  just 
then  about  to  be  born,  is  given  as  a  sign;  (viii.  1 — 4.)  who  is 
evidently  not  the  same  child,  as  that  previously  promised,  for- 
asmuch as  he  was  not  named  Immanuel,  (viii.  3.)  neither  was 
Palestine  "his  land."     viii.  8. 

In  Isaiah  xlii.  the  first  and  second  advents  of  Christ  (at  least 
various  circumstances  to  transpire  at  the  two  different  advents) 
are  described;  and  in  the  9th  verse,  the  Lord,  in  the  antici- 
patory manner  in  wiiich  the  Apostle  notes,  "that  he  calleth  the 
things  which  are  not  as  though  they  were,"  (Rom.  iv.  17.) 
speaks  of  the  former  thins^  as  already  passed,  and  to  be  taken 
as  a  pledge  of  the  new  things,  which  he  then  proceeds  to  de- 
clare to  them. 

6.  Enough,  I  trust,  has  now  been  advanced  to  prove  the 
existence  of  the  two-fold  principle  of  interpretation;  exam- 
ples of  which  might  be  multiplied  to  a  wearisome  extent.!     I 

*  I  say  not,  that  this  place  of  Isaiah  refers  j)rincipally  to  the  deliverance 
from  Babylon;  the  context  shows  the  contrary— but  the  generation  which 
lived  between  the  period  of  Isaiah  and  the  Babylonish  captivity  would  have 
been  justified  in  so  applying  it. 

t  Some  have  pointed  out  a  two-fold  sense  in  other  portions  of  Scripture, 
besides ;7/-o/Vicc?/,  hut  to  these  the  rule  of  the  Apostle  does  not  apply,  and  there- 
fore I  am  not  called  upon  to  notice  them.  For  example:  Daubuz  in  his  Com- 
mentary on  the  Apocalypse  instances  Deut.  xxv.  4.  Thou  s/iall  vol  muzzle 
the  ox,  vfioi  he  trcfiilctk  out  the  corn;  the  limited  interpretation  of  which  St. 
Paul  scouts,  as  iP  God  took  care  for  oxen;  and  insists  that  it  was  written  to 


96       ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

would  only  add  to  the  exception,  which  has  been  previously- 
mentioned,  that  when  a  prophecy  comprehends  a  period  of 
time,  reaching  continuously  from  some  event  of  early  occur- 
rence, down  to  "the  end"  or  crisis,  the  application  of  the  two-fold 
fulfilment  is  of  necessity  excluded.  Thus  the  vision  of  the 
great  image  (Dan.  ii.)  begins  apparently  with  Nebuchadnezzar, 
who  is  the  head  of  gold,  and  reaches  down  to  the  time  of  the 
second  advent,  when  the  little  stone  is  to  smite  the  image  on 
its  feet;  in  which  case  it  would  be  impracticable  for  there  to 
be  two  fuldlments,  unless  both  were  transpiring  at  the  same 
time.  I  see  not,  however,  any  obvious  necessity  for  exclud- 
ing a  prophecy,  or  certain  features  of  it,  from  the  application 
of  this  principle,  merely  from  the  circumstance  of  its  being  a 
chro?iological  prophecy,  provided  there  be  space  allowed  for  the 
double  fulfilment.  Thus  some  have  contended  for  a  two-fold 
fulfilment  of  portions  of  Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse;  the  one, 
in  a  period  of  time,  understood  mystically  of  a  day  for  a  year, 
and  the  other  to  be  accomplished  in  time,  according  to  the 
literal  acceptation  of  the  terms  by  which  it  is  designated.  I 
must  not  be  understood  as  advocating  or  approving  the  prin- 
ciple, I  only  observe  that  I  perceive  no  scriptural  ground  of 
objection  to  it.* 

show  to  the  Church  at  larpe  the  care  they  ought  to  take  of  those  M'ho  labour 
in  the  word  and  doctrine.  See  1  Cor.  ix.  9.  and  1  Tim.  v.  18.  (page  15.) 

Bishop  Warburton  notices  also  an  instance  somewhat  more  to  our  point,  in 
Acts  XV.  in  which  both  senses  are  exhibited,  or  practically  applied,  at  the  same 
time. — "What  God  hath  cleansed,  that  call  not  thou  common."  By  the  vision 
of  Peter,  to  which  it  relates,  the  Bishop  justly  observes,  that  there  is  first 
shown  in  the  literal  sense,  that  the  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  meats 
was  now  abolished;  and  in  the  mystical  sense,  that  the  middle  wall  of  parti- 
tion between  Jew  and  Gentile  is  now  broken  down.  (Div.  Leg.  vol.  v.  p.  314.) 
And  he  afterwards  deprecates  our  disregarding  this  typical  and  secondary 
sense,  because  fanatical  men  have  yielded  to  fancy  and  imagined  it  never  ex- 
isted; "we  may  as  well  (he  adds)  say,  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  did  not  write 
in  hieroglyphics,  because  Kircher,  in  endeavouring  to  explain  them,  has  given 
nothing  hut  his  own  visions." 

*  Mr.  Faber  gives  us  the  following  arbitrary  canon  in  his  Sacred  Calendar 
of  Prophecy, — "No  single  link  of  a  chronological  chain  of  prophecy  is  capa- 
ble of  receiving  its  accomplishment  in  more  than  a  single  event  or  person." 
(Pref)  This  is  very  questionable;  for  "the  Son  of  Perdition,"  spoken  of  in 
Psalm  cix.,  was  primarily  fulfilled  in  Judas  Iscariot;  (John  xvii.  12;  Acts  i. 
16 — 20;)  and  yet  the  man  of  sin,  of  2  Thess.  ii.  3,  is  declared  also  to  be  the 
Son  of  Perdition,  and  has  a  very  conspicuous  niche  given  to  him  liy  Mr.  Fa- 
ber in  the  great  chronological  prophecy  treated  of  by  him.  What  indeed  are 
7.wZffite<Z  projiliecies  in  general,  but  the  circumstantials  which  link  on  to  some 
larger  prophecy,  and  must  fall  into  some  place  in  its  chronological  course? 
Even  Mr.  Faber  himself  only  six  pages  onward  states,  "that  the  greatest  part 
of  the  several  oracles,  which  respect  the  last  ages,  may,  by  the  instrumentality 
of  marks,  which  in  their  own  proper  texture  they  themselves  will  be  found  to 
furnish,  be  mutually  linked  together  in  a  perfectly  abstract  synchronical  con- 
nection." 

Mr.  Cuninghamc  adopts  a  somewhat  similar  principle  with  Mr.  Faber,  but 
with  a  further  modification.     He  admits  the  principle  of  a  primary  and  iiUi- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.        97 

II.  We  may  now  pass  on  lo  notice  another  principle  to  be 
observed  in  the  interpretation  of  pro])hecy;  and  that  is,  the 
adherence  to  the  literal  sigmfication  of  the  words  of  the  text,  in 
all  cases;  unless  there  be  some  intimation  in  the  text  or  con- 
text, or  some  warrant  from  the  general  use  of  particular  phrases 
to  the  contrary.* 

viate,  a  typical  and  antihjpical  fulfilment,  as  applicable  to  the  discursive  pro- 
phecies ol'  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  &c.;  but  does  not  allow  it  in  the  symbolical  and 
chronological  predictions  of  Daniel  and  John;  and  with  regard  to  the  former, 
he  says,  that  no  two  occur  in  one  and  the  same  dispcnxation.  Thus  he  in- 
stances the  first  and  second  Adam:  David  and  Solomon  of  the  Levitical  dis- 
pensation, and  Christ  the  true  David  and  Prince  of  peace;  Meichizedec  of 
the  patriarchal  age,  and  of  tlie  coming  age;  Babylon,  Sodom,  Esypt,  the  As- 
syrian, and  Amalek  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  same  of  the  new  economy, 
(p.  48,  Appx.  to  church  of  Rome,  the  Apostasy.)  The  following  dilhcnlly, 
however,  is  here  created  by  Mr.  Cuninghame.  To  make  the  two  Adams, 
Davids,  and  Solomons  of  d/Jfcrcnl  dispensations,  it  is  clear  that  he  does  not 
consider  Christ  as  having  appeared  in  the  end  of  the  Jevish  dispensation, 
(see  Heb.  ix.  2G)  but  in  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  But  we 
have  seen  that  there  are  two  sons  of  perdition,  the  one  a  type  of  the  other, 
which  Mr.  Cuninghame  himself  indirectly  admits;  (p.  48)  when  he  acknow- 
ledges that  the  man  of  sin  of  St.  Paul  takes  his  ?^«w(c  from  Judas,  and  argues 
thai  as  the  one  was  not  an  avowed  enemy,  but  betrayed  with  a  ki.ss,  so  the 
other;  which  is  certainly  constituting  Judas  into  a  type  of  the  latter.  If  there- 
fore this  be  so,  then  there  is  type  and  antilypc  of  the  son  of  perdition,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  C.'s  own  interpretation,  in  the  same  dispensation.  And  if  Mr.  C. 
Avill  argue,  in  order  to  escape  from  this  dilemma,  that  Christ  appeared  in  the 
end  of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  then  we  have  the  two  Davids  in  the  Levitical 
dispensation.  Nor  do  I  see  the  force  of  Mr.  C.'s  objection  to  double  types  and 
fulfilments  in  chronological  and  symtiolical  prophecies,  if  they  exist  in  the 
di'^cursive:  unless,  as  I  have  intimated,  there  be  not  time  to  enact  the  same 
thing  twice  over. 

*  When  I  speak  of  understanding  words  in  their  literal  sense,  deference  to 
a  modern  writer  of  great  learning  and  talents  compels  me  to  explain  myself, 
in  order  to  avoid  mistake.  The  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitland  of  Gloster,  when  con- 
tending that  the  word  day  in  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  always  signifies  a  day, 
argues  thus,  "Undoubtedly  the  beasts  which  Daniel  saw  were  emhleviatical; 
but  nothing  can  be  more  literal  than  the  language  in  which  he  has  described 
tiiem:  let  it  only  be  admitted  (and  I  cannot  conceive  why  it  should  not,)  that 
by  the  word  day  he  means  day,  a.s»much  as  by  the  word  goat  he  mcan&  goat, 
and  ail  farther  arguments  on  my  part  would  be  needless."  (Second  inquirj', 
&c.  p.  3.)  To  me  this  appears  only  sophistry,  when  applied  as  it  is  ,Io  dis- 
prove the  symbolical  meaning  of  the  word  day.  It  may  be  fully  admitted  that 
(/</// signifies  (/fl?/,  as  much  as  goat  signifies  goat;  yet  if  the  word  goat  may 
nevertheless  emblematically  signify  a  kingdovi, — so  that  a  reader  of  prophecy, 
aware  of  this  circumstance,  attaches  to  the  word,  when  he  meets  with  it  in  "a 
certain  prophecy,  the  notion  of  a  kingdom,  and  dismisses  the  primary  signifi- 
cation of  the  word  goat, — what  reason  is  there  why  the  word  day  may  not  in 
like  manner  emblematically  signify  a  year,  so  that  the  reader,  who  concludes 
that  it  is  to  have  this  signification  in  a  certain  prophecy,  shall  be  justified  in 
associating  the  notion  of  a  year  with  it,  and  dismissing  its  primary  significa- 
tion of  </«)/.  I  say  this  without  any  reference  in  this  place  to  the  material 
question,  which  yet  remains,  whether  the  word  'day'  is  ever  used  in  an  em- 
blematical or  enigmatical  sense  for  a  larger  revolution  of  time:  I  only  wish  it 
to  be  understood,  that  when  I  speak  of  the  literal  sense  of  a  prophecy  or  of  a 
phrase,  I  mean,  that  I  understand  the  words  in  the  primary  signification 
thereof,  and  not  in  any  mystical,  enigmatical,  or  .>;ymboiical  sense;  excepting 
such  ordinary,  fig\irative,  or  tropical  use  of  them,  as  would  not  afl'ect  the  ob- 
vious sense  of  them  at  the  time  they  are  spoken. 


98       ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Very  important  considerations  are  involved  in  this  matter. 
It  seems  to  be  a  device  of  Satan,  when  he  cannot  hope  to  lead 
men  altogether  from  the  faith  of  scripture,  to  become  *'an 
angel  of  light,"  and  in  that  character  to  lead  them  to  some 
subtlety  in  the  way  of  the  interpretation  or  application  of 
scripture,  which  virtually  renders  it  useless:  and  among  these 
modes,  is  that  of, setting  the  ingenuity  to  work  to  find  out 
wiiat  is  called  a  spiritual  meaning,  in  sentences  and  expres- 
sions where  the  Hoi}'  Ghost  probably  never  intended  it.  Such 
interpretations  may  be  justifiable  in  the  way  of  an  accommo- 
dated and  secondary  sense,  provided  they  be  not  allowed  in 
any  way  to  interfere  with  or  to  supersede  the  literal;*  but  if 
they  be  allowed  to  become  unwarrantably  the  primary  sense, 
they  then  have  practically  the  effect  of  drawing  off  our  atten- 
tion from  the  real  instruction  which  the  Holy  Spirit  designs 
to  give  us,  and  thus  of  rendering  void  the  word  of  God.  And 
if  once  the  principle  is  conceded,  that  men  may  discard  the 
literal  sense,  and  that  it  is  the  sign  of  superior  spirituality  of 
mind  to  fetch  out  from  the  words  of  scripture  some  recondite 
or  mystical  signification,  where  are  we  to  draw  the  line,  and 
how  is  it  possible  to  lay  down  any  rules  to  prevent  the  wit 
and  ingenuity  of  men  from  running  into  extravagance?  The 
Israelite,  who,  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  should  have  im- 
posed a  spiritual  meaning  on  those  passages  of  prophecy  which 
foretel,  that  he  should  be  born  of  a  virgin,  that  he  should  ride 
on  an  ass,  that  he  should  be  spit  upon,  and  put  to  death,  would 
as  effectually  have  diverted  attention  from  the  truth  contained 
in  those  words,  as  the  Cabbalists  do,  who  make  the  sense  to 
depend  on  the  combination  of  particular  words,  letters  and 
numbers.  And  so  likewise  if  men  are  to  spiritualize  the 
things  which  regard  Christ's  second  coming,  what  should  hin- 
der us  from  adopting  at  once  tlie  allegorical  style  of  Origen, 
which  is  nevertheless  so  generally  spoken  against?  For  all  is 
in  such  case  reduced  to  uncertainty;  it  depends  upon  the  live- 
liness or  the  dulness   of  the   expositor's  imagination;  and   so 

*  Our  Lord  himself  appears  to  countenance  such  a  use  of  scripture  in  those 
words — '•^And  herein  is  that  saying  true,  une  sowethand  another  rcapcth;'''  (John 
jv.  37;)  at  least,  if  it  be  true  that  our  Lord  did  really  refer,  as  is  supposed,  to 
Micah  vi.  15, — "thou  shalt  sow,  but  thou  shalt  not  reap;"  and  not  to  some 
proverb  current  among  the  Jews  and  not  recorded  in  the  scriptures.  The 
primary  meaning  of  Micah  vi.  15,  is  dctcrmineil  by  the  context  to  be  a  chas- 
tisement which  the  Lord  should  bring  upon  the  people,  who,  when  they 
should  depart  from  his  commandments  and  do  iniquity,  should  sow  their 
fields,  but  not  reap  them.  Our  Lord's  application  of  the  words  is  to  his  dis- 
ciples, who  entered  into  the  ministerial  labours  of  their  predecessors,  the  pro- 
phets and  others; — "other  men  having  laboured  and  they  having  entered  into 
their  labours."  This  is  evidently  employed  only  in  the  way  of  accommodation- 
as  showing  that  one  may  sow  and  another  reap  in  more  senses  than  one,  and 
under  very  different  circumstances. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.      QQ 

long  as  he  offers  not  a  sense  plainly  repugnant  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  word  of  God  in  general,  there  appears  no  sufficient  rea- 
son why  the  followers  of  Origen  and  the  Jewish  Cabbalists, 
should  not  be  just  as  much  admired. 

The  propriety  of  adhering  to  the  literal  sense  is  not  so  much 
to  be  insisted  on  from  any  explicit  canon  of  scripture,  that  I 
am  aware  of,  as  from  evidence  forced  upon  us  by  the  fulfil- 
ment of  scripture,  the  reason  and  consistency  of  the  thing 
itself,  and  the  pernicious  consequences  of  a  contrary  principle 
being  admitted.  These  evils  have  been  already  adverted  to. 
The  propriety  of  the  thing  is  self-evident,  in  that  in  all  cases 
we  give  a  man  credit  for  using  language  capable  of  being  un- 
derstood, unless  he  gives  us  some  intimation  to  the  contrary; 
and  there  is  no  reason  therefore  why  we  should  deal  otherwise 
with  prophecy.  The  usage  of  scripture  is  the  only  point, 
therefore,  that  remains  to  be  established;  and  this  it  will  be 
found  does  in  general  most  decidedly  confirm  the  principle  of 
literal  interpretation. 

The  Lord's  dealings  with  his  people  Israel  will  afford  us  a 
comprehensive  example  in  the  way  of  illustration.  In  Deu- 
teronomy XXX.  1 — 4,  it  is  written — "And  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
Avhen  all  these  things  are  come  upon  thee,  the  blessing  and 
the  curse  which  1  have  set  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  call 
them  to  mind  among  all  the  nations  whither  the  Lord  thy 
God  hath  driven  thee,  &c.  that  then  the  Lord  thy  God  will 
turn  thy  captivity,  and  have  compassion  on  thee,  and  will  re- 
turn and  gather  thee  from  all  the  nations  whither  the  Lord 
thy  God  hath  scattered  thee.  If  any  of  thine  have  been  driven 
out  unto  the  utmost  parts  of  heaven,  from  thence  will  the 
Lord  thy  God  gather  thee,  and  from  thence  will  he  fetch  thee, 
and  bring  thee  into  the  land,"  &c.  This  relates,  first,  to  the 
deliverance  and  blessing  which  the  Lord  should  vouchsafe  to 
Israel  whilst  planting  them'in  Canaan;  including  the  whole 
train  of  his  "marvellous  acts"  toward  them;  secondly,  to  the 
evil  which  should  come  upon  them  on  their  apostasy;,  thirdly, 
to  an  ultimate  deliverance,  yet  to  come,  on  their  repentance. 
Now  let  us  turn  to  Joshua  xxiii.  14,  15,  and  we  find  Joshua 
at  a  later  period  thus  speaking:  "And  behold  this  day  I  am 
going  the  way  of  all  the  earth;  and  ye  know  in  all  your  hearts, 
and  in  all  your  souls,  that  not  one  thing  hath  failed  of  all  the 
good  things,  which  the  Lord  your  God  spake  concerning  you; 
all  are  come  to  pass,  and  ?iot  one  thing  hath  failed  thereof. 
Therefore  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  as  all  good  things  are 
come  upon  you,  which  the  Lord  your  God  promised  you,  so 
shall  the  Lord  bring  upon  you  all  evil  things,  until  he  have 
destroyed  youYi-om  off  this  good  land,  which  the  Lord  your 


100    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

God  hath  given  you;  when  ye  shall  have  transgressed,"  &c. 
Here  we  see  that  the  good  had  been  fulfilled — literally  fulfilled — 
7iot  ojie  thing  had  failed  thereof:  a  consistent  analogy  would  con- 
sequently require  us  to  expect  the  evil  to  be  fulfilled  in  like 
manner,  whensoever  the  people  should  transgress  in  the  way 
predicted.  Now  Jeremiah  wrote  at  a  period  when  that  evil  had 
in  a  measure  been  fulfilled, — so  far  at  least  as  that  the  people 
had  been  driven  out,  and  Jerusalem  laid  waste;  and  no  one 
questions  that  it  was  most  literally  fulfilled, — and  that  since  the 
destruction  of  their  second  temple  by  Titus,  the  whole  of  the 
plagues  mentioned  by  Moses  have  been  most  exactly  accom- 
plished. But  Jeremiah  says,  (chap,  xxxii.  42,  44,)  "For  thus 
saith  the  Lord:  Like  as  I  have  brought  all  this  great  evil  upon 
this  people,  so  will  I  bring  upon  them  all  the  good  that  I  have 
promised  them,"  &c. ;  "for  I  will  cause  their  captivity  to  re- 
turn saith  the  Lord."  The  conclusion  appears  irresistible,  that 
as  the  first  blessing  hath  been  literally  fulfilled,  and  then  like- 
Avise  the  evil,  so  the  ultimate  blessing  is  to  be  literally  fulfilled 
also;  whilst  the  fulfilment  of  the  two  former  parts,  in  the  literal 
manner  it  has  been  accomplished,  evinces  that  it  would  have 
been  most  unreasonable  and  unalogical  to  have  expected  any 
other  from  the  language  of  the  predictions,  than  such  an  ac- 
complishment as  should  correspond  with  the  plain  and  obvious 
sense  of  the  words.* 

A  like  sense  may  be  shown  to  attach  to  the  generality  of 
the  prophecies,  concerning  the  first  advent  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Already  it  has  been  noticed  that  his  being  born  of  a 
virgin,  his  riding  on  an  ass,  his  being  spit  upon,  and  put  to 
death,  have  been  most  precisely  accomplished;  so  likewise, 
might  be  adduced,  his  being  born  in  Bethlehem,  a  fact  which 
the  whole  Sanhedrim  interpreted  to  Herod,  evidently  on  the 
literal  principle.  (Matt.  ii.  5.)  Again,  his  being  betrayed  by 
one  of  his  followers;  the  piercing  his  hands  and  his  feet;  the 
parting  his  garments,  and  casting  lots  for  his  vesture;  his  being 
numbered  with  transgressors,  and  having  his  grave  with  the 
rich,  and  a  multitude  of  other  circumstances;  were  most  lite- 
rally accomplished:  and  why  should  it  be  supposed  therefore, 
and  insisted  on  by  some  modern  expositors  of  prophecy,  that 
the  circumstances  relating  to  the  second  advent,  and  which  for 
the  most  part  are  to  be  found  combined  in  the  same  prophecies 
which  relate  to  the  first  advent,  are  to  be  fulfilled  on  a  different 
principle? 

*  Mr.  Keith,  in  his  very  interesting  work  on  "  The  Evidences  from  Prophe- 
at,''''  has  brought  forward  numerous  instances  of  exceedingly  literal  fulfilment 
of  predictions,  respecting  other  nations;  though  in  several  instances  he  pushes 
even  the  literal  principle  to  a  fanciful  extent. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


101 


2.  Having,  however,  stated  the  principle,  the  next  thing  is 
to  guard  against  the  abuse  of  it.  There  are  various  exceptions 
and  qualifications  of  ihc  rule,  to  he  discerned  by  a  careful  pe- 
rusal of  Scripture,  which  clearly  evince  that  the  literal  principle 
may  be  carried  to  excess. 

Some  have  thought  that  it  is  quite  a  sufficient  restriction  of 
the  rule  of  literal  interpretation  to  say,  that  it  is  only  to  be 
qualified  by  those  exceptions  which  are  obvious  to  common 
sense;  so  that  it  requires  no  reasoning  upon  the  subject,  but 
merely  the  exercise  of  a  plain  understanding.*  Much  might 
be  conceded  to  this  view  of  the  matter,  were  the  Scriptures 
originally  written  in  Englisli,  and  with  a  reference  to  English 
idioms  and  habits  of  thinking  and  expression;  because  many 
things  are  plain  and  readily  understood  by  us,  though  couched 
in  a  measure  in  tropes  and  figures  which  a  stranger  would, 
nevertheless,  be  entirely  at  a  loss  for,  until  he  became  acquaint- 
ed with  our  habits  and  idioms.  Doubtless,  therefore,  many 
things  were  clearly  understood  by  the  Jews,  owing  to  their 
familiarity  with  the  figures  and  expressions  used,  which  are  not 
so  obvious  to  the  common  sense  of  those  whose  language  and 
habits  are  so  entirely  difierent;  and,  therefore,  they  require  to 
be  studied  and  carefully  observed. 

(1.)  First  may  be  instanced  tropical  expressions.  Such  as 
are,  strictly  speaking,  tropes,  are  too  evidently  so  to  require  any 
consideration.  The  class  of  words,  therefore,  more  particu- 
larly demanding  attention,  are  those  which  may  raise  a  question 
in  the  mind  of  the  English  reader,  whether  they  are  to  be  un- 
derstood in  a  literal  sense,  or  as  si/mbols;  but  which  would  not, 
I  conceive,  have  raised  any  question  of  the  kind  in  the  minds 
of  those  to  whom  the  prophecies  were  delivered.  When  we 
read  of  the  fatness  o{  the  olive  tree,  no  one  of  ordinary  under- 
standing would  doubt  its  sen^e;  and  the  promises  'Ho  plant'^ 
the  Jews  in  their  own  land,  and  to  ''build'^  them,t  are  as  plainly 
understood  as  if  mention  were  made  of  planting  trees  or  build- 
ing houses.  But  not  so  to  res,  when  mention  is  made  of  dark- 
ening the  sun  and  moon,  or  casting  down  the  stars,  &c.  Yet 
•when  Joseph's  dream  came  to  be  related,  the  envy  which  im- 
mediately expressed  itself  in  his  brethren,  and  the  observations 
made  by  his  father,  show  that  it  was  readily  understood; 
Xhc  sun  being  taken  to  represent  the  head  of  the  family;  the 
moon,  his  bride  or  wife,  and  the  stars  his  sons.   In  like  manner, 

♦See  a  controversy  on  the  subject  of  the  literal  interpretation,  carried  on 
in  "the  Investigator  of  Prophecy,"  between  a  writer  signing  himself  Trinita- 
rius,  and  others. 

t  See  2  Sam.  vii.  JO;  1  Chron.  xvii.  9;  Jer.  xxiv.  6;  xxxi.  28;  xxxii.  41;  xlii. 
10;  Amos  ix.  15. 
VOL.   II. — 9 


102  ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

the  sun  may  be  applied  to  Christ,  as  the  head  by  whom  the 
whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named,  (Ephes.  iii.  15.) 
and  the  great  "Sun  of  righteousness;"  the  moon  to  the  Church, 
which  is  his  bride;  (Rev.  xxi.  2.)  and  the  stars  to  his  apostles 
and  prophets,  or  to  the  sons  of  the  Church,  who,  like  the  pa- 
triarchs, are  to  be  made  princes  in  all  the  earth.  (Psalm  xlv. 
16.)  And  thus  they  are  further  applied  to  the  visible  types  of 
these  things:  the  sun  e.  g.  to  the  regal  power,  in  a  kingdom 
the  moon  to  the  visible  Church,  commonly  identified  and  asso- 
ciated with  the  regal  power;  and  the  stars  to  the  nobles,  or  men 
of  influence,  both  in  Church  and  State.  In  this  sense  the 
symbols  are  employed,  wliether  the  worship  established  in  the 
kingdom  to  which  they  refer,  be  a  corrupt  superstition,  or  a 
pure  religion.  Thus  in  Isaiah  xiii.  9 — 13,  17,  they  refer  to 
the  ruling  powers,  and  nobles,  and  idols  of  Babylon;  in  Ezekiel 
xxxii.  7,  8,  11,  to  the  same  powers  of  Egypt;  and  in  Isaiah 
xxxiv.  2,  5,  to  the  powers  of  Idimiea:  and  I  doubt  not,  there- 
fore, that  Matt.  xxiv.  29,  and  Luke  xxi.  25,  though  occurring 
in  a  prophecy  which  is,  in  the  main,  literally  set  forth,  refer 
nevertheless  to  the  powers  in  Church  and  State,  which  shall  be 
existing  in  those  kingdoms  that  shall  be  brought  within  the 
vortex  of  the  great  whirlwind  of  tribulation  mentioned  therein. 
These  expressions,  therefore,  are  apparently  to  be  viewed  not 
so  much  as  symbols,  .^trictly  speaking,  as  expressions  which 
have  become  tropical  from  their  frequent  and  familiar  use. 

Various  other  phrases  fall  under  this  rule;  diS  mountain,  hill, 
sea,  waves,  waters,  floods,  trees,  the  virgin  of  Israel,  the  daughter 
of  my  people,  &c.;  without  the  understanding  of  which,  in  the 
first  instance,  we  cannot  arrive  at  a  right  apprehension  of  many 
passages  in  the  prophets  and  many  of  the  psalms,  in  which 
they  are  frequently  used. 

(2.)  Sometimes  we  meet  with  sentences,  immediately  fol- 
lowing the  use  of  these  figures,  which  sentences  are  evidently 
designed  to  explain  the  trope  preceding.  These  are  exceedingly 
valuable,  not  only  as  throwing  light  on  that  particular  passage 
in  which  they  occur;  but  as  fixing  the  sense  likewise  of  those 
expressions,  upon  an  authority  which  must  carry^conviction,  and 
thus  enable  us  to  interpret  other  passages  in  which  they  are 
likewise  used.  A  few  instances  of  these  exegetical  sentences 
will  serve  to  illustrate  this  point. 

In  Psalm  xlvi.  1 — 3,  we  have:  "God  is  our  refuge  and 
strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble.  Therefore  will  we 
not  fear,  though  the  earth  be  removed,  and  though  the  momi- 
lains  be  carried  into  the  midst  of  the  sea;  though  the  -waters 
thereof  roar  and  be  troubled,  though  the  mountains  shake  with 
the  swelling  thereof."     Now  this  is  explained  in  the  sixth 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.     IQ3 

verse:  "The  healhen  raged,  the  kingdoms  were  moved:  He 
uttered  his  voice,  the  earlh  melted."  F'rom  which  it  appears 
tliat  ■mountains  are  kingdoms,  and  the  lieathen  the  ungodly  or 
wicked  portion  of  mankind  who  are  the  means  of  shaking  and 
disturbing  the  kingdoms  of  the  eartli.  Psalm  Ixv.  7.  contains 
another  instance:  "Which  stilletli  the  noise  of  the  seas — the 
noise  of  their  xvuves — and  [or  rather  cvcn^  the  tumult  of  the 
people."  This  is  doubly  exegetical;  for  the  seas  in  the  first 
clause  is  explained  in  the  second  clause  by  zcavcs;  and  in  the 
third  clause  the  '^noise  of  the  reaves"  is  shown  to  be  the  lumiilt 
of  the  people."  In  Isaiah  Ixv.  5.  we  have:  "the  abundance  of 
the  sea  shall  be  converted  unto  thee, — the  forces  of  the  Gentiles 
shall  come  unto  thee;"  the  latter  of  which  clauses  is  evidently 
the  interpretation  of  the  former.  So  Isaiah  xliv,  3,  "I  will 
pour  zcalcr  upon  him  that  is  thirsty,"  is  explained  in  the  same 
verse  by,  "I  will  pour  my  Spirit  upon  thy  seed."  Isaiah  xxxiv. 
1.  is  also  in  the  one  part  exegetical  of  the  other,  though  neither 
part  is  obscure:  "Come  near  ye  nations  to  hear — and  hearken 
ye  people:"  and  again,  "let  the  earth  hear,  and  all  that  is  therein, 
the  Txorld,  and  all  things  that  come  forth  of  it."  And  as  the 
nations  are  here  explained  to  be  '^ihe  people,"*  so  in  Psalm 
Ixxxv.  8,  "His  people"  is  distinguished  from  "7/ie  people,"  and 
explained  to  be  "the  saints;"  for  He  will  speak  peace  unto  his 
people,  and  [or  even^  to  his  saints. "'f 

Sometimes  the  explanation  of  particular  tropes  and  figures 
is  not  to  be  met  with  in  the  same  connexion,  nor  even  in  the 
same  book.  Thus  in  Luke  xi.  20.  the  expression,  "If  I  with 
the  finger  of  God  east  out  devils,"  might  excite  inquiry  in  the 
mind  of  an  English  reader;  but  we  find  a  precise  explanation 
of  it  in  JNIatt.  xii.  28,  where  we  have  the  parallel  passage, 
"But  if  I  cast  out  devils  by  the  Spirit  of  God;"  thus  evincing 
how  difierently  two  Jews  might  express  the  same  thing,  and 
yet  both  be  literally  correct 'according  to  their  own  habits  of 
thinking.      And  this  further  shows  how  justifiable  it  is,  if  we 

*  The  Septnagint  has  this  rather  different:  "Come  near,  ye  imtions,  (or 
Gentiles,  tbvx)  and  hear,  ye  rulers:  let  the  earth  hear,  and  those  in.  it, — the 
hatjilablc  earth,  [oiKovfAivn]  and  the  people  wliich  is  in  it." 

tTlie  word  and  in  our  translation  appears  frequently  to  require  the  sense 
of  eren,  which  is  giving  to  the  Hebrew -|  no  greater  latitude  than  is  constantly 
allowed  to  the  Greek  xoi.and  the  Latin  ct,  the  former  of  which  is  sometimes 
so  translated  in  the  New  Testament,  and  seems  to  require  it  in  other  places. 
An  instance  occurs,  in  Numbers  xxiv.  18,  of  an  exegetical  clause,  in  which 
the  translators  have  not  rendered  -i  by  and,  but  by  also, — "And  Edovi  shall  be 
a  possession,  Scir  also  shall  be  a  possession."  A  reader,  however,  unacquaint- 
ed with  the  fact,  that  Seir  and  Edom  are  the  same,  (Gen.  xxxi.  3,  xxxvi.  8,) 
vould  conclude  from  the  word  also,  that  two  different  countries  were  intended. 
It  would  certainly  be  nearer  the  sense  if  rendered,  "And  Edom  shall  be  a 
possession,  even  6'#ir  shall  be  a  possession." 


104    ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

find  the  interpretation  of  a  piirase  in  one  part  of  scripture,  to 
apply  it  to  the  like  phrase  in  another  part  of  scripture. 

(3.)  Another  class  of  tropes  or  tigurative  words  are  those, 
the  sense  of  vvhicii  cannot  be  fixed  by  explanatory  sentences, 
(as  in  the  former  instances,)  but  from  their  being  connected 
with  the  Levitical  ceremonial,  which  was  typical;  and  there- 
fore when  words  are  used,  which  represent  things  connected 
typically  with  that  ceremonial,  it  may  be  made  a  question 
whether  they  are  to  be  understood  literally  or  figuratively; 
and  this  may  commonly  be  determined  by  the  context  and 
scope  of  the  passage.  For  example,  when  our  Lord  warned 
his  disciples  "to  take  heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees,"  (Matt.  xvi.  6,)  he  was  supposed  in 
the  first  instance  to  use  the  expression  literally;  (verses  7, 
11,)  which  exposed  them  to  rebuke  for  not  understanding  it 
in  its  mystical  sense.  This  shows  that  the  ultra-literal  rule  of 
qualifying  only  by  the  dictates  of  common  sense  is  not  suffi- 
cient; there  must  be  a  spiritual  sense,  to  enable  men  to  under- 
stand spiritual  things,  and  to  compare  them  with  spiritual. 
(1  Cor.  ii.  11 — 15.)  It  is  apparently  on  this  principle,  viz. 
the  typical  meaning  of  the  Levitical  dispensation,  that  St. 
John  applies  those  words  as  prophetical  of  what  should  happen. 
to  our  Lord — "A  bone  of  him  shall  not  be  broken."  (John 
xix.  36.)  No  man  I  think,  from  the  bare  inductions  of  natu- 
ral sense,  would  have  fetched  such  a  meaning  out  of  Exodus 
xii.  46.  Neither  do  I  wonder  that  John  ii.  19,  "Destroy  this 
temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up,"  should  have  been 
so  little  understood  till  after  the  resurrection  of  Jesus;  for  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  spoken  would  naturalhj 
have  led  to  the  conclusion  that  it  referred  to  the  great  temple 
at  Jerusalem,  and  not  to  that  temple  or  tabernacle  which  St. 
Paul  mystically  speaks  of,  1  Cor.  vi.  19.  and  2  Cor.  v.  1.* 
How  likewise  was  Mary  to  conclude,  by  the  dictates  of  com- 
mon sense,  of  such  a  saying  as  this:  "Yea  a  sword  shall  pierce 
through  thy  own  soul  also?"  (ch.  ii.  35.)  Ordinary  sense 
would  rather  lead  to  the  conclusion,  in  this  instance,  that 
Mary  was  really  and  literally  to  suffer  death  by  the  sword. 
An  acquaintance,  however,  with  such  scriptures  as  Psalm  Ivii. 
4,  Ixiv.  3;  Prov.  xii.  18,  and  xxv.  18,  (portions  of  scripture 
committed  to  memory  by  the  pious  Jews,)  would  suggest  to 
Mary  that  a  different  sense  might  be  intended;  and  knowing 

*  I  must  refer  the  reader,  for  a  full  explanation  of  the  phrases — Mount 
Zion,  holy  mountain — house  of  God,  temple,  &c.  to  Abdiel's  Essays,  pages  42, 
51  to  5.3,  and  131.  They  are  phrases  quite  necessary  to  be  understood  in  their 
scriptural  sense,  in  order  to  a  right  apprehension  of  the  true  meaning  of  scrip- 
ture in  many  places. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.     jQG 

this,  the  words  concerning  Christ,  that  he  should  he  "for  a 
sign  that  should  be  spoken  against,"  would  give  occasion  fur 
her  "to  ponder  in  her  heart"  whether  that  which  concerned 
herself  was  not,  that  the  reproaches  of  them  that  reproached 
him  should  pierce  and  afilict  her. 

These  things  show  that  there  are  difficulties  to  be  encoun- 
tered, arising  from  the  terms  in  which  prophecies  are  express- 
ed; (to  say  nothing  of  the  more  directly  symbolical  proj)he- 
cies  of  Daniel  and  St.  John;)  and  to  pass  these  difficulties  by, 
as  of  no  moment,  or  to  conclude  that  they  have  no  existence, 
is  not  the  rigiU  way  to  arrive  at  correct  interpretation  of 
prophecy.  They  are,  however,  I  believe,  all  of  them  to  be 
understood  by  a  careful,  and  devout,  and  patient  study  and 
comparison  of  God's  word. 

(•1.)  It  must  further  be  observed,  that  whilst  words  in 
general  are  used  in  tlie  scriptures  in  so  literal  a  sense,  that  an 
argument  is  sometimes  raised  on  this  ground  alone;*  there  are 
other  words  which  are  frequently,  though  not  always,  used  in 
a  restricted  sense;  and  an  argument  therefore  drawn  from 
these,  as  if  used  invariably  in  an  ///^restricted  sense,  would  not 
be  just:  though  it  is  not  unfrequently  done,  particularly  of 
late,  on  the  prophecies.  For  example,  the  word  all,  does  not 
necessarily  mean  absolutely  the  whole  of  the  subject  of  which 
it  is  predicated,  but  must  be  qualified  by  its  usage  in  other 
instances,  and  its  scope,  therefore,  and  context  in  any  particu- 
lar case.  Thus,  in  Mark  i.  5,  it  is  written — '<And  there  went 
out  unto  him  all  the  land  of  Judea,  and  they  of  Jerusalem, 
and  were  all  baptized  of  him,  (S:c."  A  very  specious  argument 
might  be  raised  from  the  meaning  of  the  word  all,  in  the  latter 
clause  of  the  sentence,  as  to  its  comprehensive  signification  in 
the  former  part;  and  yet  we  know  that  all  the  land  of  Judea, 
and  all  they  of  Jerusalem,  w;ere  not  baptized  of  John,  neither 
did  all  go  out  to  him.  And  this,  it  is  to  be  observed,  cannot 
be  clearly  gathered  from  the  context  of  Mark  i.  5;  but  from  a 
careful  comparing  oi  other  scriptures,  such  as  Luke  vii.  29,  30. 
So  in  the  prophets:  Isaiah  says,  *'By  fire  and  by  his  sword 
^vill  the  Lord  j)lead  with  all  flesh;  and  the  slain  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  77iani/."  This  would  seem  to  imply  an  utter  destruc- 
tion; but  in  verse  19  we  read — "I  will  send  those  that  escape 
of  them  unto  the  nations,  to  Tarshish,  Pul,  Lud,  Tubal,  Ja- 
van,"  &c. 

We  have  another  very  remarkable  instance,  in  which  even 

*  Mr.  Halilane,  in  his  treatise  'On  Ike  Verbal  Inspiration  of  the  IMy  Scrip- 
tvres,'  has  given  examples  of  this:  for  instance,  when  the  apostle  (Gal.  iii.  l(i) 
(haws  an  imporiaiit  conclu.sion  from  the  word  "st-'e^," — being  used  in  the 
singular,  and  not  in  ihi:  pi  mat  number,  (p.  13b.) 
9' 


IQQ     ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

the  apostle  argues  for  the  most  extensive  signification  of  the 
word.  Quoting  Psalm  viii. — "Thou  hast  put  all  things  in 
subjection  under  his  feet,"  he  reasons;  "For  in  that  he  put  all 
in  suijjection  under  him,  he  left  jwlh'uig  that  is  not  put  under 
him;  but  now  we  see  not  yet  all  things  put  under  him."  (Heb. 
ii.  8.)  And  yet  in  1  Cor.  xv.  27,  he  makes  this  exception: 
"But  when  he  saith  all  things  are  put  under  him,  it  is  manifest 
that  He  is  excepted  which  did  put  all  things  under  him." 
This  shews  that  an  assertion  evidently  incongruous  with  and 
destructive  of  some  grand  truth  contains  within  itself  the 
exception  to  the  rule. 

The  case  is  not  altered  by  a  change  in  the  terms  or  expres- 
sions used.  In  Jeremiah  xliv.  14,  we  read  "that  none  of  the 
remnant  of  Judah,  which  are  gone  into  the  land  of  Egypt  to 
sojourn  there,  shall  escape  or  remain,  &c."  Yet,  at  the  end  of 
the  verse,  it  is  added,  ^hione  shall  return  but  such  as  shall 
escape."  Verse  27  appears,  in  the  first  instance,  still  more 
sweeping:  "Behold  I  will  watch  over  them  for  evil,  and  not 
for  good;  and  all  the  men  of  Judah  that  are  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  shall  be  consumed  by  the  sword  and  by  the  famine, 
until  there  be  an  end  of  them."  Nevertheless,  it  is  afterwards 
intimated — "Yet  a  small  immher  that  escape  the  szrord  shall 
return,  &.c."  In  John  iii.  32 — "And  no  man  hath  received 
his  testimony,"  is  af):erwards  apparently  contradicted  by — 
"He  that  hath  received  his  testimony,  hath  set  to  his  seal  that 
God  is  true;"  which  is,  however,  no  real  contradiction  to 
those  accustomed  to  Jewish  idiom,  any  more  than — "He  came 
to  his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not,''  qualified  again  by 
an  intimation  in  the  next  verse,  that  some  did  receive  him, — 
"But  as  majiy  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  be- 
come the  sons  of  God."  (John  i.  11,  12.)  So  in  Acts  ii.  5, 
it  is  stated,  that  there  were  dwelling  at  Jerusalem,  devout 
men,  out  of  every  nation  under  heaven;"  which,  nevertheless, 
could  not  be  the  case  if  the  phrase  under  heaven,  is  to  be  taken 
in  its  fullest  extent;  but  it  appears  rather  to  have  respect  to 
the  nations  comprehending  the /loma/i  earth  or  world:*  (See 
Luke  ii.  1.)     Luke  iv.  5,  seems  to  require  a  similar  limitation. 

The  phrases  for  ever,  and  for  ever  and  ever,  are  likewise 
susceptible  of  great  limitation  according  to  the  circumstances 
and  connexion  in  which  they  are  mentioned.  An  able  writer 
in  "The  Investigator  of  Prophecy,"  has  traced  this  limitation 
to  the  following  classes  of  circumstances: — First,  when  applied 
to  the  existence  of  man;  in  which  case  the  phrase  signifies 

♦  The  word  heaven  is  sometimes  used  as  if  synonymons  with  earth:  e.  g. — 
"If  any  of  thine  be  driven  out  unto  the  outmost  parts  i^i heaven,  from  thence 
will  the  Lord  thy  God  fetch  thee,"  &c.  Deut.  xxx,  4. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


101 


only  the  duration  of  liis  life  upon  earth.  (See  Exod.  xxi.  6.) 
The  second  is  limited  to  the  duration  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
temple.  (See  1  Kings  ix.  3.)  The  third  class  refers  to  the 
Levitical  law,  certain  ordinances  of  which  are  called  ^'statutes 
for  ever."  For  the  numerous  proofs  adduced,  and  the  argu- 
ments of  the  writer  thereon,  I  must  refer  to  the  work  itself.* 
I  only  observe  further,  on  this  point,  how  injudicious  it  is 
hastily  to  reject  an  interpretation,  because  it  may  appear  at 
first  view  to  be  opposed  by  some  expression,  without  waiting 
to  inquire  wiiether  there  may  not  be  suflicient  reason  to  limit 
or  qualify  that  expression.  Unless  we  thus  qualify  scripture 
by  scrij)ture,  we  shall  often  be  compelled  to  reject  scripture 
itself.  The  Jews  when  it  was  intimated  to  them  that  the  Soa 
of  Man  must  be  "lifted  up,"  answered,  "We  have  heard  out  of 
the  law  that  Christ  abideth  for  ever."  (John  xii.  34.)  This 
was  a  seeming  difficulty,  but  perfectly  reconcileable  if  only  all 
scripture  were  taken  into  the  account.  So  we  find  that  the 
world  is  to  be  dissolved,  (2  Peter  iii.)  to  which  it  may  be 
objected,  we  have  heard  out  of  the  law  "that  the  earth  abideth 
forever."  (Eccles.  i.  4.)  But  this  is  no  real  contradiction; 
neither  is  the  circumstance  that  Christ's  kingdom  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  "/o?-  ever;"  and  yet,  in  1  Cor.  xv.  24,  as  to  be 
delivered  up  to  the  Father.  All  that  is  required,  in  regard  to 
the  word  of  God,  is  time  and  a  patient  consideration;  when  it 
will  be  found,  in  proportion  as  we  become  better  acquainted 
with  the  ^vords  thereof,  ''that  they  are  all  plain  to  him  that 
understandeth,  and  right  to  them  that  find  knowledge."  (Prov. 
viii.  y.) 

III.  I  shall  in  the  third  place  throw  together  a  {qw  miscel- 
laneous observations  referring  to  principles  of  interpretatiou 
which  are  deducible  from  the  word  of  God. 

1.  The  first  I  may  term  the  irferentud  or  deductive.  An 
esteemed  and  venerable  Christian  writci",  who  however  has 
candidly  avowed  his  superficial  acquaintance  with  prophetical 
subjects,  has  hazarded  the  following  observation: — '.'Attempt- 
ing to  establish  it  [viz.  the  doctrine  of  the  premillennial  advent] 
on  inferences  and  deductions,  is  building  on  the  sand,  and  not  on 
the  rock  of  truth.  Whatever  is  an  object  of  faith  is  always 
plainly  revealed  in  the  inspired  word  of  God."t  This  is  only 
one  among  the  numerous  lamentable  evidences  which  exist  of 
good  men,  and  scriptural  men  in  the  main,  being  on  some 
points  so  under  the  influence  of  prejudice,  as  to  be  led  to  de- 

*  Sec  the  Letters  of  Trinitarius,  (a  writer  already  referred  to,)  Investiga- 
tor, vol.  i.  p.  198,  and  also  a  paper  ou  the  word  euui  in  the  same  publication, 
vol.  iii.  p.  3-21.     I 

t  Sober  Views  of  the  Millennium,  by  the  Rev.  T.  Jones,  of  Creaton,  p.  26. 


108    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

nounce  or  disparage  principles  which  are  decidedly  sanctioned 
by  the  word  of  God.  Such  is  the  case  in  regard  to  inferences 
and  deductions:  they  are  employed  by  the  spirit  of  God  to 
establish  some  very  important  points  of  doctrine  on  certain 
occasions;  and  how  shall  we  therefore  presume  to  make  light 
of  them?* 

We  have  recently  had  one  instance  before  us  in  the  case  of 
St.  Paul,  arguing  as  to  the  extent  and  character  of  Christ's 
authority  in  his  millennial  kingdom,  viz.,  "that  when  he  (the 
Spirit)  saith,  All  things  are  put  under  him,  it  is  manifest  that 
he  is  excepted,  which  did  put  all  things  under  hi'n.  What  is 
this  but  an  inference  and  deduction,  drawn  from  the  conside- 
ration, that  he  that  delegates  a  power  must  still  be  greater  than 
he  to  whom  it  is  delegated? 

Another  instance  is,  where  our  Lord  proves  to  the  Saddu- 
cees  the  important  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  from  the  fact 
that  God  said  to  Moses  in  the  bush,  "I  am  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob."  This  is 
an  inference  or  deduction,  to  the  effect,  that  as  it  would  be 
contrary  to  the  majesty  and  dignity  of  Jehovah  to  be  the  God 
of  those  whom  death  would  effectually  destroy,  so  they  must 
be  presumed  as  living  unto  God,  and  as  eventually  to  be  re- 
stored to  life  in  the  iDody.  (Malt.  xxii.  31,  32.)  And  this  is 
an  argument  which  the  Sadducees  were  evidently  rebukeable 
for  not  considering.      ' 

A  third  instance  may  be  taken  from  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, relative  to  that  rest  which  remaincth  to  the  people  of 
God.  The  argunrait  by  which  the  apostle  urges  it  on  those 
to  whom  he  writes,  is  the  circiirnstance,  that  in  the  Psalms  the 
Lord  (as  has  been  noticed,  page  121,)  warns  his  people  not  to 
harden  their  heart,  and  reminds  them  of  that  generation  with 
whom  he  was  grieved  in  the  wilderness  for  forty  years,  and 
"unto  whom  he  sware  in  his  wrath,  that  they  should  not  enter 
into  his  rest."  (Psalm  xcv.  7 — 11.)  From  the  fact  that  a 
practical  use  is  made  of  this  "after  so  long  a  time,"  the  apostle 
infers,  that  it  could  have  no  reference  to  the  Sabbath  rest  insti- 
tuted at  creation,  nor  to  the  rest  of  Canaan  into  which  they 
were  led  by  Joshua;  but  to  some  future  rest  which  must  still 
remain  to  God's  people.     (See  Ileb.  chap.  iii.  and  iv. ) 

One  other  may  be  noticed  in  Matthew  v.  12.  "Rejoice  and 
be  exceeding  glad;  for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven:  for  so 

*  I  must  tiolbe  understood  as  yieldina:  to  Mr.  Jones,  that  we  have  nothing 
hut  inferences  and  deductions  to  ofl'er  lor  the  doctrine  of  the  picmillennial  ad- 
vent; neither  am  I  proposing  now  fully  to  meet  his  objection  in  all  its  bearings. 
I  apply  myself  at  present  only  to  the  principle^  of  iuferences  and  deductions  in 
the  abstract. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    JQQ 

persecuted  they  the  prophets u-hich  xvere  before  you."  This  is  given 
as  a  reason  for  rejoicing,  in  acldilion  to  the  assurance  that  there 
is  a  reward  for  the  persecuted  in  heaven.  But  there  is  no 
ohvious  comfort  in  the  statement,  unless  we  resort  to  the  prin- 
ciple o(  inference  and  deduction.  Then  the  consideration,  that 
God  should  have  permitted  the  wicked  to  jiersecute  and  trouble 
the  riglUcous,  leads  to  the  necessary  inference,  that  there  must 
be  a  day  in  reserve  of  righteous  retribution,  when  the  Lord 
will  recompense  tribulation  to  them  that  trouble  his  people, 
and  to  them  that  are  troubled  he  will  recompense  rest,  when 
the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven, — evidently  that 
''rest  that  remaineth."  (Rom.  ii.  5— 10;  2  Thess.  i.  6.)  The 
persecutions,  therefore,  which  the  righteous  endure  for  righte- 
ousness sake,  are  to  be  taken  as  "a  manifest  token  of  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God;"  being  "an  evident  token  of  per- 
dition" to  the  ungodly,  but  to  the  saints  a  token  "of  salvation, 
and  that  of  God."     (2  Thess.  i.  5;  Phil.  i.  28.) 

It  is  remarkable,  that  all  the  four  instances  here  adduced 
contain  arguments  which  have  a  reference  to  the  rest  which 
remaincth  to  the  people  of  God;  the  resurrection  which  is  to 
introduce  the  saints  to  the  enjoyment  of  it;  the  judgment  of 
the  wicked  and  recompense  of  the  righteous  therein,  and  the 
extent  of  the  power  delegated  to  "that  man  whom  God  hath 
ordained  to  judge  the  world."      (Acts  xvii.  3L) 

These,  however,  are  not  the  only  class  of  topics  in  respect 
to  which  arguments  are  employed  in  the  way  of  inference  or 
induction:  many  others  occur  in  the  scriptures;  I  shall  content 
myself  with  referring  to  two  or  three  of  a  less  obvious  charac- 
ter, from  which,  nevertheless,  very  important  conclusions  are 
drawn.  The  superiority  of  the  man  over  the  woman,  and  the 
consequent  propriety  of  the  subjection  of  the  latter,  is  insisted 
on  by  the  apostle  (1  Tim.  ii.  11  — 14)  from  the  circumstances 
''that  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve;  and  that  Adam  was 
not  deceived,  but  the  woman  being  deceived  was  in  the  trans- 
gression." The  incongruity  of  polygamy,  and  especially  of 
divorce,  with  the  order  and  law  of  nature,  is  asserted  by  our 
Saviour  on  the  ground  that  God  in  the  first  instance  made  man 
a  male  and  a  female,  for  which  cause  the  man  was  to  cleave  to  his 
wife,  (Matt.  xix.  3 — S;)  and  that  divorce,  however  it  might 
have  been  winked  at,  on  account  of  the  harilness  of  the  heart 
of  the  Jews,  was  a  departure  from  the  order  constituted  of 
God  ''at  the  beginning,"  and  from  which  therefore  the  mind 
of  God  was  to  be  inferred.  So  the  duty  of  setting  apart  a 
seventh  portion  of  our  time  for  rest  from  labour  and  for  the 
worsliip  of  God,  is  declared  from  the  fact  of  the  work  of  crea- 
tion having  bfeen  effected  in  six  days,  and  God's  having  rested 


no    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

on  the  seventh  day  and  hallowed  it.*  And,  once  more,  it  is 
intimated  to  the  people  by  Moses,  that  they  ought  to  abstain 
from  makino;  jrraven  images  or  other  representations  of  the 
Deity,  on  this  deductive  and  inferential  ground,  that  wlien  the 
Lord  spake  unto  them  in  Horeb,  they  saw  no  similitude,  hut 
only  heard  a  voice.      (Deut.  iv.  12 — IG.) 

Now  from  these  examples  it  is  most  evident,  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  arguing  from  inferences  and  deductions  in  regard  to 
the  doctrines  of  God  is  most  legitimate,  scriptural,  and  im- 
portant. 

2.  Another  principle  to  be  noticed  in  regard  ^o  prophecy, 
is,  that  it  does  not  require  the  terms  of  it  to  be  precisely  those 
o(  direct  prediction.  It  may  be  truly  said,  that  when  verbs  are 
in  the  future  tense  they  signify  no  other  than  future:  but  the 
reverse  does  not  hold  good:  there  are  other  forms  of  the  verb 
which  have  a  future  signification,  though  to  an  English  ear  the 
idiom  may  appear  strange.  We  may  take  first  for  an  example 
the  whole  of  Psalm  cxvii. — ^'■O  praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  ?iulio?is, 
(or  Ge?itiles:  praise  him  all  ye  people.  For  his  merciful  kindness 
is  great  toward  us;  and  the  truth  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever: 
Praise  ye  the  Lord.'"  There  is  nothing  in  the  first  aspect  of 
this  psalm,  which  to  an  ordinary  reader  would  appear  propheti- 
cal; it  seems  to  contain  only  an  exhortation  of  the  Psalmist 
to  the  nations,  to  render  the  praise  due  to  God  in  consideration 
of  his  mercy  and  tru'lh.  Nevertheless,  it  is  quoted  by  St. 
Paul,  in  Romans  xv.  11,  to  convince  the  Jews  that  they  ought 
not  to  be  prejudiced  against  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  seeing 
that  it  is  here  declared  that  they  should  praise  him.  Every 
instance,  therefore,  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  the  mouth  of 
his  prophets,  thus  calls  on  any  imperatively  to  any  act,  is  a 
declaration  and  assurance  that  they  shall  do  so;  and  as  a  first 
fruits  from  the  Gentiles  was  given  as  a  token  and  earnest  in 
St.  Paul's  time,  so  may  we  be  assured  that  the  time  shall  arrive 
when  all  the  Gentiles  shall  turn  to  the  Lord,  and  the  whole 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  his  glory  and  praise.  fF/ic«  that  time 
shall  be,  is  declared  in  another  similar  prophecy,  quoted  by 
St.  Paul,  on  the  same  occasion:  "Rejoice  ye  Gentiles  with  his 
people."  Rom.  xv.  10.  For  this  is  taken  from  the  song  of 
Moses,  in  Deut.  xxxii.  43,  and  the  connection  is  as  follows: 
"Rejoice,  0  ye  nations,  with  his  people:  for  He  u-ill  avenge  the 
blood  of  his  servants,  and  rcill  render  vengeance  to  his  adversaries, 
and  mil  be  merciful  unto  his  land  a?id  to  his  people.' '  (Compare 
Rev.  xviii.  20,  and  xix.  5.) 

•  See  this  lars^fily  insisted  on  by  the  eminent  Dr.  John  Owen,  in  his  "Trea- 
tise on  the  Sabbath." 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION,    m 

Another  instance  is  Isaiah  Ixv.  1,  2.  "I  am  sought  of  them 
that  asked  not  for  me;  I  am  found  of  them  that  sought  me 
not:  I  said,  Behold  me!  Behold  mc!  unto  a  nation  that  was  not 
called  by  my  name.  I  have  spread  out  my  hands  all  the  day, 
unto  a  rebellious  people,"  &c.  This  is  partly  in  the  present 
and  partly  in  the  past  tenses;  as  if  some  of  the  particulars  of 
it,  (I  am  sought, — I  am  found,)  had  reference  to  the  period  in 
which  the  prophecy  was  delivered,  and  the  other  particulars 
(I  said,  Behold  me!  &c. — -I  have  spread  out  my  hands,  &.c.) 
referred  to  events  gone  by;  the  whole  being  rather  in  the 
style  of  narrative  than  prophecy.  But  the  whole  is  quoted 
also  by  the  apostle,  (Rom.  x.  20,  21.)  as  referring  to  the  re- 
ception of  the  Gentiles  to  be  the  Lord's  people,  and  the  casting 
off  Israel,  as  witnessed  in  his  days. 

These  will  serve  as  a  specimen  whereby  to  judge  of  various 
passages,  which  may  otherwise  be  lightly  passed  over;  espe- 
cially those  which  are  couched  in  the  form  of  prayer  and  im- 
precation. Psalm  Ixxx.  will  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  former; 
Lamentations  i.  22.  affords  an  example  of  the  latter;  or  Psalms 
cix,  and  Ixix. — concerning  the  son  of  perdition,  and  the  apos- 
tate Jews — so  often  a  stumbling-block  to  the  English  reader; 
being  viewed  as  a  burst  of  tbe  revengeful  disposition  of  the 
Psalmist,  instead  of  remembering  that  he  spake  as  he  was 
moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  prophesied.  (Compare  Acts 
i.  20;  also  Matthew  xxiii.  38;  and  Romans  xi.  S — 10.) 

3.  There  is  another  important  principle  to  be  noticed  in  the 
structure  of  prophecy,  and  indeed  in  the  structure  of  the  his- 
torical parts  of  scripture  equally,  viz.  that  the  facts  related  or 
dwelt  upon  are  not  always  mentioned  in  their  proper  chro- 
nological order;  but  a  deviation  takes  place  without  any  notice 
or  intimation  thereof  to  the  reader. 

There  are  three  modes  of, deviating  from  the  regular  order. 
The  first  is  by  prolepsh,  when  facts  are  related  before  some  other 
events  mentioned,  which  events  they  rcaUy  folloic  in  the  order 
of  time.  The  second  is  by  what  has  been  called  episode,  inter- 
rupting the  regular  course  of  the  narrative.  The  third  is  in 
the  way  of  appendix  of  particulars,  after  the  narrative  is  com- 
pleted. A  specimen  or  two  from  the  historical  portions  of 
scripture  will  best  serve  to  convince  the  reader,  and  to  prepare 
him  to  expect  the  like  in  prophecy. 

In  Genesis  x.  5,  20,  31,  the  division  of  the  earth  ^^aflcr 
their  tongues,  in  their  countries,  and  in  their  nations,'  'is  alluded 
to  in  the  way  of  anticijiation ;  and  not  till  chap.  xi.  have  we  the 
regular  account  of  that  division. 

In  Genesis  .^xxviii.  1 — 5,  Judah  is  described  as  taking  Shuah 
to   be  his  concubine,  and  has  by  her  Er,  Onan,  and  Shelah. 


112  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Versea  6 — 10,  Er  and  Onan  are  severally  described  as  grown 
to  man's  estate,  and  married  to  Tamar,  and  both  slain  of  the 
Lord  for  their  wickedness.  Verses  11 — 24:  after  this  a  suf- 
ficient time  elapses  for  Shelah  the  younger  son  of  Judah  to  be 
grown  up;  and  Tamar  continues  sometime  after  his  arriving  at 
manhood,  without  his  being  given  to  her  in  marriage.  And 
finally,  (verses  24 — 30,)  Tamar  has  two  sons,  twins,  by  her 
father-in-law  Judah.  Yet,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  (xxxvii. 
2,)  Joseph  is  stated  to  be  only  seventeen  years  of  age;  and  in 
chap.  xli.  46,  only  thirty  years  of  age.  The  whole,  therefore, 
of  chap,  xxxviii.  if  it  be  viewed  as  occurring  in  regular  chro- 
nological order,  must  have  taken  place  within  a  less  period 
than  thirleeti  years,  which  is  quite  impossible,  and  therefore  it 
must  be  considered  as  an  historical  episode. 

In  Genesis  i.  27,  we  have  the  account  of  the  creation  of 
■woman  in  the  regular  order  of  narrative:  "So.God  created  man 
in  his  own  image;  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him,  male 
and  female  created  he  them."  In  chap.  ii.  18 — 25,  the  history 
of  creation  being  concluded,  there  is  appended  a  separate  no- 
tice of  the  particulars  of  the  creation  of  the  woman,  and  of  the 
cause  thereof. 

The  same  principle  exists  in  the  historical  parts  of  the  New 
Testament.  In  Matt,  xxvii.  52,  53,  we  have  the  relation  of 
many  of  the  saints  coming  out  of  their  graves  after  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus.  Bat  it  is  mentioned  in  connexion  with  his 
crucifixion,  and  before  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  has  been  de- 
scribed; which  is  not  till  chap,  xxxviii. 

John  i.  6 — 18,  contains  a  summary  sketch  or  glance  at  the 
Avhole  history  of  the  ministry  of  Christ,  from  his  coming  into 
the  world  (v.  9)  to  his  being  rejected  by  his  own,  (v.  11;)  and 
then  it  takes  up  particulars  and  proceeds  more  minutely:  just 
as  a  painter  first  makes  a  sketch  of  his  subject,  and  afterwards 
makes  out  a  more  detailed  delineation. 

It  may  be  reasonably  concluded,  therefore,  that  the  same 
principle  applies  to  prophecy,  when  it  contains  lengthened  de- 
scription; though,  from  the  comparative  uncertainty  which 
hangs  over  that  portion  of  it  which  is  unfulfilled,  it  is  difficult, 
in  many  instances,  to  determine  it.  Daniel  vii.  however,  evi- 
dently sets  forth  the  general  outline  of  the  prophecy  of  the  four 
beasts  first,  and  then  returns,  and  in  the  way  of  interpretation, 
goes  through  the  whole  again,  and  fills  up  details.*     In  Reve- 

*  There  is  a  remarkable  instance  in  the  historical  part  of  Daniel,  of  chro- 
nological irregularity  in  the  narrative.  In  chapter  i.  1.  Nebuchadnezzar  is 
called  King  of  IJahi/lon,  and  /Arce  years  of  his  reign  are  said  to  elapse  (See 
verses  5,  IH.)  before  Daniel  stood  before  him.  Yet  chapter  ii.  states,  that  in 
the  .s(?co?uZ  year  of  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar  he  had  the  dream  of  the  great 
image,  which  was  interpreted  to  him  by  Daniel. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION,    n^ 

lation  xi.  there  is  an  evident  prolepsis:  verse  7  describing  "the 
beast  that  ascendeth  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  as  makino;  war 
on  the  two  witnesses;''  whereas  we  have  no  account  of  any 
7cild  beast  (a-;.;!:/)  till  chapter  xiii,  and  not  of  the  beast  of  the 
bottomless  pit,  till  chapter  xvii.*  Verses  G  and  14  of  Rev.  xii. 
when  compared,  show  the  former  to  be  a  prolepsis;  for  there  it 
is  said,  the  woman  "Jlcd  into  the  wilderness;''  whereas  in  verse 
14  she  receives  two  wings  of  an  eagle  "that  she  miirlit  fly  into 
the  wilderness."  IMany  portions  of  Rev.  xvii.  partake  of  the 
same  character;  and  the  whole  of  that  chapter,  and  of  the  re- 
maining chapters  (and  probably  portions  of  former  chapters) 
appear  to  be  an  appendix,  in  which  particular  subjects  of  the 
previous  delineation  are  painted  out,  as  it  were,  more  in  detail. 

4.  A  few  further  observations  appear  necessary,  in  the  con- 
clusion of  this  chapter,  concerning  the  alleged  obscurity  of 
prophecy. 

There  is  a  danger,  as  has  been  already  intimated,  in  going  to 
an  extreme,  and  concluding  obscurity  to  exist  where  none  is 
intended;  and  likewise  in  sui)posing  that  it  exists  to  a  greater 
degree  than  it  does  where  it  really  is  intended.  Much  of  the 
imagined  obscurity  exists  in  ourselves,  and  not  in  the  prophecy; 
the  medium  through  which  we  view  divine  things  is  often  so 
darkened  and  so  distorted  by  carnal  prejudices,  as  entirely  to 
prevent  us  from  recognising  the  truth,  though  it  be  placed  before 
us  in  the  clearest  and  most  undisguised  language.  What,  for 
instance,  could  be  more  plain  than  those  predictions  of  our 
Saviour,  so  often  repeated  to  his  disciples,  of  his  future  suffer- 
ings, and  which  he  desired  them  to  let  sink  down  into  their 
ears?  Take  this  for  example: — "The  Son  of  man  shall  be  de- 
livered into  the  hands  of  men."  This  is  spoken  openly, 
without  any  parable  or  figure,  and  yet  "they  understood  not 
this  saying,  and  it  was  hid  from  them,  that  they  perceived  it 
not."  (Luke  ix.  44,' 45.)  And  thus  it  happens  now,  that  in 
matters  equally  plain,  men  fancy  some  obscure  or  allegorical 
sense,  merely  because  the  obvious  sense  shocks  and  contradicts 
their  pre-conceived  notions  of  wliat  it  ought  to  be. 

In  regard  to  the  tropes,  metaphors,  and  symbols,  likewise,  of 
Scripture,  some  persons  seem  to  conclude  of  them,  that  there 
can  be  no  fixed  and  settled  rule  for  their  interpretation;  but 
that  they  were  left  to  the  taste  and  imagination  of  the  prophet, 
independent  of  any  control  from  the  Spirit,  and  are  conse- 

*  Some  indeed  have  considered  the  bcasis,  mentioned  in  chapter  vi.  8.  to  have 
a  reference  to  the  ten  and  two-horned  beasts;  in  wliich  case  the  bcasis  there, 
would  be  mentioned  in  the  way  of  anticipation.  But  they  are  called  "beasts 
of  the  earth"  whereqs  there  is  only  one  beast  of  the  earth  afterwards  described; 
the  others  are  from  the  sea,  and  fi-om  the  bottomless  pit. 
VOL.   II. — 10 


114    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

quently,  in  many  instances,  superfluous   embellishments,  or 
words  used  in  the  looseness  and  with  the  latitude  of  poetical 
figures.      This  is  not  only  a  great  mistake,  but  it  contains  in  it 
likewise  a  most  dangerous  principle.     For  if  we  are  left  at 
liberty,  in  the  perusal  of  the  word  of  God,  to  lower  the  terms 
in  which  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  is  conveyed  to  us,  and  to  con- 
clude that  one  jot  o;-  tittle  can  be  superfluous,  where  are  we  to 
draw  the  line?    It  must,  in  that  case,  not  only  have  been  left 
to  the  taste  and  style  of  the  prophets,  but  it  must  likewise  be 
left  to  the  taste  and  style  of  every  reader;  so  that  the  amount 
of  signiflcancy  and   of  literal   accuracy  in  every  part  of  the 
Scriptures  will  depend  upon  the  imagination  and  notions  of 
every  man,  thus  making  it  to  each  individual  of  "private  in- 
terpretation."    With   regard  to  tropes  and  figurative  expres- 
sions, we  have  seen  already  that  they  are  often  explained;  and 
with  regard  to  symbols,  we  have  seen  that  iri  some  instances 
they  may  be  viewed  from  their  frequent  and  familiar  use,  as 
only  tropical  expressions.     In  these  instances  it  is  evident,  that, 
however  they  may  serve  to  embellish,  they  are  like  the  polish- 
ed corners  of  tlic  temple,  which  add  strength  and  compactness 
to  the  edifice  likewise.     And  as  respects  the  other  symbols  or 
hieroglyphics  of  Scripture,  Bishop  Hurd  has  justly  observed, 
that  they  are  "not  vague  uncertain  things,  but  fixed  and  con- 
stant analogies,  detern^iinable  in  their  own  nature,  or  from  the 
steady  use  that  was  made  of  them;"   (Vol.  ii.  p.  90.)  and  I 
doubt  not  but  that  they  may  be  reduced  to  as  certain  principles 
of  interpretation,  as  the  generality  of  ivo)-ds,  in  any  language. 
Whilst  however  it  must  be  contended  that  prophecy  is  not 
that  dark  and  unintelligible  thing  which  many  are  disposed  to 
conclude  of  it;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  is  rather  to  be 
viewed  as  a  ^'li[^ht  shining  in  a  dark  place,"  in  order  to  dispel 
the  darkness;  (2  Peter  i.  19.)  it  seems  to  be  going  quite  as 
inucli  into  the  extreme  to  insist,  that  there  is  no  obscurity  in 
prophecy  whatsoever:  and  this  they  do  indirectly  assert,  who 
allege    that   it  can  be  at  once   understood,  and   its  meaning 
determined.      Enough  has  been  already  brought   forward  to 
prove,  that  there  are  at  least  certain  peculiarities  and  idioms, 
contained  in  the  very  structure  of  prophecy,  which  must  serve 
to  obscure  it  in  a  measure  to  the  superficial  reader;  and  this 
afibrds  otic  proof,  if  there  be  no  otlier,  that  the  patience  and 
diligence  of  the  wise  in  heart  must  be  exercised  in  the  careful 
consideration  and  investigation  of  these  things.      Nor  has  any 
thing  like  the  whole  been  brought  forward  of  what  might  be 
adduced   relative   to  this  point  alone.     Bishop  Chandler  has 
observed,  in  regard  to  the  genius  of  the  Hebrew  original  of  the 
prophecies,  "that  many  tilings  arc  there  left,  to  be  supplied 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    1]5 

by  the  quickness  of  the  reader's  apprehension,  which  are  with 
us  expressed  by  proper  words  and  repetitions;  particles  dis- 
junctive and  adversative,  significative  marks  of  connection, 
and  of  transition  from  one  subject  to  another  are  often  omit- 
ted; dialogues  arc  carried  on,  objections  answered,  and  com- 
parisons made,  without  notice  in  the  discourse."*  These 
things  may,  indeed,  be  determined  by  careful  observation, 
from  the  context,  or  by  a  comparison  of  the  doubtful  place 
with  parallel  ones;  but  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  the  meaning  in 
all  cases  to  be  so  plain  as  that  the  poor  man,  and  "he  that 
occupieth  the  place  of  the  unlearned,"  shall  be  equally  enabled 
with  the  learned  to  discover.!  The  education,  habits,  asso- 
ciations, and,  in  numerous  instances,  the  intellectual  deficien- 
ces  of  multitudes  in  the  humbler  classes,  disqualify  them  from 
making  such  observations  of  themselves.  They  may  be  ena- 
bled with  tolerable  acuteness  and  good  sense  to  perceive  the 
existence  and  propriety  of  sucli  things,  when  pointed  out  to 
them  by  others;  but  for  the  discovery,  they  must  lean  upon 
those  "helps"  in  the  Church,  which  God  has  ever  raised  up, 
and  appointed  for  this  purpose,  not  only  as  regards  prophecy, 
but  the  general  doctrines  of  divine  revelation  likewise.  (1 
Cor.  xii.  2S.)  What  poor  man,  for  example,  can  determine  a 
question  o{  crilicism  for  himself?  They  are  indeed  dependent, 
in  every  line  they  read  of  God's  word,  upon  the  learned:  for 
they  must  rely  upon  the  traiislalion  given  to  them;  and  if  that 
be  incorrect,  they  have  no  means  of  rectifying  it  but  by 
resorting  to  other  learned  men,  on  whose  testimony  they  must 
again  be  dependent. 

But  there  are  likewise  obscurities  which  prove  and  exercise 
the  understanding  of  the  most  learned  and  intelligent.  It 
must  be  evident  to  any  one  who  will  consider  the  character  of 
the  greater  portion  of  the  ]orophccies  of  Daniel  and  St.  John, 
that  the  general  style  and  structure  of  them  is  different  from 
that  of  most  other  prophecies;  and  so  likewise,  are  large 
portions  of  the  prophet  Zechariah,  and  much  of  Ezckiel. 
Notwithstanding  the  sentences  of  interpretation  occasionally 
inserted  in  St.  John,  or  given  at  greater  length  in  Daniel,  they 
still  do  not  convey  a  meaning  to  the  reader  so  obvious,  as  that 
the  prophecy  can  be  at  once  comprehended,  without  diligent 
and  careful  investigation  and  comparison. 

It  is  clearhj  the  purpose  of  God,  that,  in  some  instances, 
prophecies  should  nol  be  understood  until  the  time  of  tiie  end: 
of  this  we  have  the  direct  testimony  of  God  himself,   in  Dan. 

*  Defence  of  C,hrislianity  from  the  prophecies.     Introduction,  page  11. 
t  This  is,  nevertheless,  what  has  been  concluded  by  the  writer  in  the  Inves- 
tifralor  before  alluded  to,  signed  Trinitarivs. 


11(5    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

xli.  4.  9.  It  may  be  questioned  also,  in  regard  to  the  matters 
here  said  to  be  "sealed  up,"  whether  at  the  time  of  the  end  the 
wise  shall  be  enabled  to  look  back,  and  to  see  that  they  have 
been  previously  fulfilled;  or  if  at  the  time  when  the  said  pro- 
phecy is  about  to  be  fulfilled,  the  meaning  of  it  shall  be  first 
opened  to  the  church.  But  in  either  case,  there  must  be  a 
something  in  the  terms  of  the  prophecy  calculated  to  raise 
doubt  and  hesitation,  as  to  the  precise  interpretation  to  be 
given  them,  or  the  special  application  to  be  made  of  them; 
otherwise  I  see  no  reason  why  Daniel  should  not  have  under- 
stood it  at  the  time,  just  as  well  as  the  generation  which  is 
destined  to  understand  it.  Let  us  suppose,  for  example,  that 
when  Daniel  hears  "the  time,  times,  and  a  half"  declared, 
(chap.  xii.  7,)  in  regard  to  which  it  is,  apparently,  that  he 
says,  "I  heard,  but  I  understood  not," — that  he  doubted 
whether  he  was  to  understand  three  years  and  a  half,  according 
to  the  measure  and  meaning  of  a  time  in  reference  to  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, (see  chap.  iv.  24;)  or  whether  he  was  to  under- 
stand the  time  here  symbolically,  according  to  the  direction 
given  in  one  instance  to  his  contemporary  Ezekiel,  (chap.  iv. 
G;)  tliis  alone  would  create  that  precise  degree  of  hesitation  in 
the  mind,  which  would  prevent  him  from  deciding  with  posi- 
tiveness  on  the  meaning  of  the  prophecy.  I  insist  not  that 
this  u'us  the  cause  of  Daniel's  want  of  understanding  it,  though 
it  appears  to  me  not  improbable:  it  is  instanced  only  in  the 
way  of  illustration  of  those  obscurities,  which  were  probably 
designed  to  rest  upon  portions  of  the  prophetic  word.* 

Nor  does  it  appear  that  a  prophecy,  if  it  be  delivered  under 
circumstances,  or  in  language,  calculated  to  cast  a  veil  of 
obscurity  over  it,  must  necessarily  be  understood,  even  when 
fulfilled,  or  in  course  of  fulfilment,  with  such  clearness  and 
force  of  demonstration,  as  to  excite  a  general  conviction  of  one 
only  signification.  It  is  plainly  declared  that  "«o»e  of  the 
wicked  shall  understand:"  but  if  the  circumstances  were  to  be 
such  as  must  produce  general  conviction,  then  the  meaning 
must  be  as  obvious  to  the  wicked  as  to  the  righteous.  It 
seems,  however,  to  be  one  method  whereby  the  Lord  takes 
the  wise  of  this  world  in  their  own  craftiness,  that  whilst  they 
are  despising  what  appears  to  them  only  foolishness,  they  are 
often  themselves  unconsciously  helping  forward  the  fulfilment. 
(Compare  Acts  iii.  17,  IS.  and  1  Cor.  ii.  8.)  Neither,  I  take 
it,  will  a  prophecy  that  is  couched  in  symbol  appear  so  clear 
to  the  zriic  after  its  fulfilment,  as  to  come  home  to  them  with 

•  Psalm  cii.  18.  and  1  Peter  i.  10— 1'2,  appear  to  refer  to  prophecies  intended 
to  be  understood  by  the  seneration  for  which  they  were  especially  delivered, 
and  not  to  have  been  understood  by  tiiat  generation  which  lirst  enjoyed  ihem. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    JJ^ 

the  same  de2;rce  of  conviction,  as  if  it  were  in  the  undisguised 
language  of  liistory;  and  it  is  calcuhitcd  to  prevent  that  una- 
nimity on  this  sul)ject  among  the  wise,  if  wc  incautiously  lead 
them  to  expect  too  much  in  this  respect  from  prophecy.  When 
it  is  said  tliat  the  four  heasts  of  Daniel  vii.  are  four  kingdoms, 
it  still  needs  much  skill  in  the  interpretation  of  prophecy,  to 
apply  all  the  various  minutiae  of  those  symbols  to  demonstrate 
the  kingdoms  intended;  and  in  the  instance  of  the  Little  Horn 
of  the  same  vision,  there  will  always  be  a  latitude  of  applica- 
tion arising  from  the  obscurity  of  the  symbol  itself,  and  from 
the  likeness  which  some  of  the  features  of  it  that  are  described 
bear  to  various  powers  which  have  already  appeared. 

A  passage  in  Bishop  Sherlock's  Dissertations  on  Prophecy, 
places  tlie  last-mentioned  point  in  a  clear  point  of  view.  "It 
will  be  asked,  How  comes  it  to  pass,  that  many  of  the  pro- 
phecies are  still  dark  and  obscure,  and  that  it  requires  much 
learning  and  sagacity,  to  show  even  now  the  connexion  be- 
tween some  prophecies  and  the  events?  In  answer  to  this 
question,  we  must  observe,  that  the  obscurity  of  prophecy 
does  not  arise  from  hence,  that  it  is  a  relation  or  description  of 
something  future;  for  it  is  as  easy  to  speak  of  things  future, 
plainly  and  intelligibly,  as  it  is  of  things  past  or  present.  The 
same  language  serves  in  both  cases  with  little  variation.  He 
who  says,  The  river  n-ill  overjlorii  its  banks  next  year,  speaks  as 
plainly  as  he  who  says.  It  did  overjlow  its  banks  last  year.  It  is 
not  therefore  of  the  nature  of  prophecy  to  be  obscure;  for  it 
may  easily  be  made  as  plain  as  history,  when  he  who  gives  it 
thinks  fit.  On  the  other  hand,  a  figurative  and  dark  descrip- 
tion of  a  future  event  will  be  figurative  and  dark  still,  even 
when  the  event  happens,  and  consequently  will  have  all  the 
obscurity  of  a  figuratively  dark  description,  as  well  after  as 
before  the  event.  You  may  observe,  then,  that  the  most 
literal  prophecies  have  received  the  greatest  confirmation  and 
the  most  light  from  the  event:  for  the  difficulty,  in  thi's  case, 
not  lying  in  the  darkness  or  obscurity  of  the  expression,  but 
in  the  seeming  impossibility  of  the  thing  foretold,  such  seem- 
ing impossibility  the  event  fully  clears:  but  no  event  can 
make  a  figurative  or  metaphorical  expression  to  be  a  plain  or 
a  literal  one.  I  have  said  thus  much  to  show  what  sort  of 
clearness  and  evidence  we  ought  to  expect  from  prophecies 
after  their  accomplishment.  It  is  a  great  prejudice  against  this 
argument  [from  prophecy]  when  men  come  to  it  expecting 
more  from  it  than  it  will  yield.  This  they  are  led  to  by  hear- 
ing it  often  said,  that  prophecy,  honxver  dark  and  obscure  at  first y 
grows  wonderfully  plain  in  the  accomplishment:  which  in  some 
10* 


118  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

cases  is  in  fact  true;  but  is  not,  cannot  be,  so  in  all  cases." 
(Diss.  ii.  p.  3G,  41.) 

Tiius  we  may  conclude,  that  things  which  are  enigmatically 
described,  though  seen  and  understood  by  the  wise,  are  never- 
theless ''seen  in  an  enigma  darkly."  And  whatever  question 
may  arise,  as  to  the  plainness  and  literal  distinctness  of  pro- 
phecy, one  thing  at  least  is  evident  from  experience,  that 
some  portions  of  the  prophetic  word  never  have  been  clearly 
seen,  or  the  signification  generally  agreed  in.  It  matters  not 
indeed,  as  regards  the  practical  result,  that  things  might  have 
been  known:  if  God  has  even  suffered  the  prejudices  of  men  to 
prevail,  so  that  they  have  proved  as  a  veil  to  the  understand- 
ing, they  have  operated  as  effectually  in  obscuring  prophecy, 
as  if  he  had  mystified  the  word  itself.  Take,  for  example,  the 
number  of  the  beast.  The  early  church  never  pronounced 
upon  it  with  any  confidence.  The  interpretation  given  to  it 
by  Ircnsus  was  advanced  only  as  a  modest  suggestion  in  com- 
pany with  two  other  words;  and  the  multitude  of  interpreta- 
tions whicli  have  arisen  since,  some  of  them  not  wanting  in 
plausibility,  have  prepared  the  way,  even  if  a  better  interpre- 
tation is  hereafter  to  arise,  to  induce  good  men  to  ponder  it 
well  before  they  decide  as  to  its  merits. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ON  THE  SECOND  ADVENT  OF  CHRIST. 

It  may  already  have  been  concluded,  from  the  testimonies 
adduced  in  the  third  chapter,  drawn  from  the  writings  of  the 
early  Fatlicrs  and  the  Reformers,  thai  the  second  advent  of  Christ 
was  a  doctrine  held  very  prominently  by  them,  and  urged  as 
the  great  object  of  hope  and  expectation  on  the  believei'.  In 
the  present  chapter  it  is  proposed  to  bring  this  topic  more 
expressly  before  the  reader,  and  afterwards  to  disabuse  him  of 
certain  modern  prejudices  and  misapprehensions  respecting 
the  Judgment  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  which,  if  he  be  under 
their  influence,  will  very  greatly  embarrass  the  right  appre- 
hension of  the  Prophecies. 

1.  No  doubt  will,  it  is  assumed,  arise  in  the  mind  of  the 
Christian,  in  regard  to  the  hope  of  the  Jewish  Church:  it  is 
well  known  that  prior  to  the  first  advent  of  the  Lord,  the 
coming  of  the   Messiah    formed    the  chief  and  almost  only 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.     HQ 

ground  of  expectation  to  the  pious  Israelite,  which  expecta- 
tion had  indeed  extended  beyond  the  people  of  Israel,  and 
prevailed  among  many  of  the  Gentiles.  So  intimately  was 
the  advent  of  the  Christ  bound  up  with  the  important  events 
which  he  was  to  accomplish,  that  it  became  difficult  for  the 
Jewish  mind  to  separate  the  one  from  the  other,  and  some  of 
the  very  names  which  he  familiarly  bore  among  them  when 
they  spake  of  him,  were  indicative  of  the  importance  which 
they  attached  to  that  event,  and  the  intensity  w^ith  which  they 
expected  it,  as  mp  the  one  zcailed  for,  Nan  and  o  iiX'-'M''^"^^y  he  that 
Cometh.* 

While  however  it  will  be  conceded,  that  this  was  t!ie  grand 
object  of  hope  to  the  church  prior  to  ihc  first  advent,  many  are 
disposed  to  conclude,  that,  that  advent  having  taken  place,  the 
coming  of  Christ  ceases  to  be  an  object  of  such  pre-eminent 
importance  and  interest,  excepting  in  the  retrospect;  and  some 
are  even  inclined  to  place  the  second  advent  among  the  non- 
essential truths  of  Christianity,  which  they  presume  may  be 
neglected  or  lightly  esteemed,  without  danger  or  detriment  to 
the  believer.  Owing  to  this,  and  to  the  opinion  that  a  long 
and  indefinite  period  is  to  elapse  before  that  advent  can  under 
any  circumstances  take  place,  it  has  come  to  pass,  that  it  is  not 
by  the  generality  of  pious  men  now  pressed  upon  the  notice 
of  their  hearers  with  any  earnestness,  but  is,  comparatively- 
speaking,  thrown  into  the  back  ground.  A  reference  however 
to  scripture  will  show,  that,  in  thus  doing,  the  church  has 
departed  from  the  apostolical  mode  of  treating  the  subject. 

To  cite  passages  from  the  Old  Testament,  in  proof  of  this, 
may  appear  to  some  inconclusive,  arising  from  the  impression 
that  they  were  all  fulfilled  at  the Jint  advent  of  Christ.  I  shall 
waive  therefore  the  mass  of  evidence  to  be  derived  from  this 
source;  excepting  to  observe, — that  it  would  be  very  difficult 
to  select  any  one  entire  prophecy  from  the  Old  Testament, 
supposed  to  relate  to  this  event,  which  was  in  all  its  jmncipal 
particulars  accomplished  at  our  Lord's  first  coming.  So  far 
indeed  as  any  importance  may  be  attached  to  the  general  ex- 
pectation of  the  Israelitish  church  before  that  period,  scarcely 
any  of  the  things  which  they  looked  for  and  mused  upon  were 
fulfilled  at  the  first  advent; — the  events  which  then  came  to 
pass,  though  declared  beforehand  in  the  scriptures,  were  not 
expected  by  the  generality,  but  took  even  the  most  pious  of 
them  by  surprise; — whilst  the  apostles  themselves  do  constantly 
carry  forward  and  sustain  the  expectations  previously  enter- 
tained, directing  the  mind  of  the  Christian  church  to  the  second 

*  See  Dr.  Lamb,  on  the  Hebrcir  Ilicroslnphus. 


ion  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

advent   as  the  great  event  which  was  to  be  the  consummation 
of  the  believer's  hope. 

In  the  first  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  chap,  iv.,  the  apostle 
brings  a  very  interesting  subject  before  their  notice;  viz.  the 
special  consolation  with  which  he  would  have  them  comfort 
one  another,  when  afflicted  by  the  bereavement  of  dear  friends 
and  relatives  in  Christ.  He  declares  that  he  would  not  have 
them  ignorant  concerning  the  state  of  such,  and  sorrow  for 
their  departure  as  those  persons  sorrow  who  never  hope  to  see 
their  deceased  friends  again,  (v.  13.)  Now  would  be  the 
time,  if  it  were  consistent  with  the  mind  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
for  the  apostle,  who  here  speaks  expressly  "by  the  word  of 
the  Lord,"  (v.  15.)  to  dwell  upon  the  blessedness  of  those  that 
sleep  in  Jesus  in  the  separate  state;  to  comfort  their  friends 
with  the  assurance  that  they  are  now  in  glory;  and  to  encour- 
age the  survivors  to  hope,  that  they  shall  pl-esently  be  with 
their  friends  in  heaven.  But  there  is  not  a  word  of  the  kind! 
He  teaches  them,  that  they  shall  again  see  their  friends  here; — 
he  reminds  them  that  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  the  pledge  of 
theirs; — and  he  tells  them  that  when  the  Lord  comes  he  will 
bring  them  with  him. — "For  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend 
from  heaven  with  a  shout,"  &c.  Thus  he  brings  the  second 
advent  to  bear  upon  events  of  such  common  occurrence  and 
touching  interest  to  tli^e  Christian;  and  I  am  persuaded,  that, 
where  it  is  thus  realized  and  practically  applied  in  such  cases, 
the  consolation  it  affords  is  far  superior  to  that  which  can  be 
derived  from  any  other  consideration  which  the  wisdom  and 
ingenuity  of  man  can  substitute  in  its  place.* 

We  arc  favoured  in  the  New  Testament  with  the  hope  en- 
tertained by  two  of  the  apostles,  personally  and  individually 
in  the  prospect  of  death;  constituting  what  may  be  termed  thei 
experience  on  the  occasion;  and  it  is  remarkably  to  the  point  in 
hand.  St.  Paul  says,  "I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the 
time  of  my  departure  is  at  ha7id.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I 
have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith:  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  Righteous  Judge  shall  give  me  at  that  day."  (2  Tim. 
iv.  f) — 8.)  St.  Peter,  when  admonished  by  the  Lord,  "that 
he  must  shortly  put  off  his  fleshly  tabernacle,"  thinks  it  proper 
to  write  an  epistle  to  tlie  faithful,  the  whole  burden  of  which 

•  It  will  not  be  denied  by  tlie  writer  of  these  pages  that  there  is  an  interme- 
dinic  stale,  in  which  the  separate  spirits  of  believers  are  in  a  condition  of 
blcs^cd  rest  and  consciousness;  enjoying  also  the  presence  of  Christ,  as  declared 
in  2  Cor.  v.  8,  and  Phil.  i.23.  This  point  he  haseneleavonred  to  vindicate  from 
llie  errors  of  some  modern  Millenarians  in  the  work  called  "Al)dicVs  Essays," 
where  he  has  al.so  set  forth  the  doctrine  oU/ic  Resurrection.  See  the  note  like- 
wise at  page  52  of  this  volume. 


leir 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    X21 

is  to  confirm  tliem  in  the  expectation,  that  these  present  hea- 
vens and  earth  shall  be  dissolved,  as  those  in  tlie  days  of 
Noah  were,  and  again  be  siicceedetl  by  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth;  that  he  had  followed  no  cunningly  devised  fables,  when 
he  made  known  to  them  the  power  and  coming;  of  the  Lord; 
but  had  had  a  visible  specimen  of  it,  when  he  beheld  the  trans- 
figuration on  the  mount;  and  that  apostate  men  would  arise  in 
the  last  days,  treating  the  promise  of  his  coming  with  scoff. 
He  finally  confirms  all  by  the  testimony  of  St.  Paul,  who  (he 
says)  iti  all  his  epistles  makes  mention  of  these  things. 

In  like  manner  St.  Peter,  in  his  first  epistle  had  directed  the 
hope  of  believers  in  general  to  the  same  object  of  expectation: 
"When  the  Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear  ye  shall  receive  a 
crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away."  (chap.  v.  4.)  And 
so,  in  like  manner,  do  the  other  apostles.  St.  James  encour- 
ages not  those  to  whom  he  writes  with  the  hope  of  reward  at 
death;  but  exhorts  them  to  be  patient  until  the  coming  of  the 
Lord.  (James  v.  7.)  And  St.  John  declares,  "We  know  that 
when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  him."     (1  John  iii.  2.) 

Now  these  things  are  consistent,  if  the  great  hope  of  deli- 
verance and  salvation  were  deferred,  as  insisted  on,  till  the 
second  appearing  of  Jesus;  and  if  that  were  the  object  chiefly 
held  out  to  view.  We  shall  in  that  case  not  only  perceive  it 
laid  down  in  tl.e  New  Testament  as  a  doctrine  of  the  apostles, 
but  we  shall  find  the  primitive  church  in  general  impressed 
with  this  view  of  the  subject;  and  either  speaking,  or  spoken 
of,  as  looking  forward  with  eagerness  to  this  event.  Other 
marks  of  grace  will  be  discernible;  but  this  mark  in  particular, 
at  a  time  when  it  is  presumed  the  hopes  of  the  church  were 
bound  up  in  the  doctrine  of  the  second  advent  of  Christ,  and 
not  in  the  rest  entered  into  immediately  after  death,  would 
then  be  an  essential  one.  .The  want  of  it  would  imply  either 
very  gross  ignorance  of  the  prevailing  tenets  of  the  church,  or 
very  great  unbelief  of  those  which  were  perceived."  This 
feature,  however,  pre-eminently  marks  the  character  of  the 
scripture  saints,  as  shall  now  be  evinced  by  a  few  passages  from 
the  epistles  of  St.  Paul. 

In  Romans  viii.  19,  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature 
is  said  by  him  to  be  rcaiting  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God;  and  those,  who  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  are 
groaning  within  themselves  and  -aaiting  for  the  redemption  of 
the  body,  (verse  23.)  He  thanks  God  for  the  Corinthians,  be- 
cause they  came  behind  in  no  gift,  rvaiting  for  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ;  (1  Cor.  i.  7:)  which  words  are  so  connected 
as  to  shew,  ihat  the  proper  and  practical  tendency  of  those 
gifts,  and  the  best  evidence  of  completeness  in  the  Spirit,  con- 


lOO    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

sisted  in  the  mind's  being  led  to  be  habitually  looking  for  the 
Lord  Jesus  from  heaven.  So  of  the  Thessalonians  therefore 
the  apostle  writes,  "that  they  turned  from  idols  to  serve  the 
livinu-  and  the  true  God,  and  to  wait  for  his  Son  from  heaven." 
(I  Thess.  i.  9,  10.)  To  the  Philippians  he  writes:  "For  our 
conversation  is  in  heaven,  />om  whence  also  zee  look  for  the  Sa- 
viour, the  Lord  Jesus  Chri<l;  who  shall  change  our  vile  body, 
that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body,  according 
to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  unto 
himself"  (chap.  iii.  20,  21.)  And  as  the  hope  of  a  glorious 
resurrection  is  here  declared  to  be  the  great  benefit  that  he 
looked  for  from  his  Redeemer's  coming,  so  he  declares,  that 
the  whole  powers  of  his  mind  and  heart  were  placed  on  this 
one  thing: — viz.  to  know  Christ,  and  the  poiver  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, and  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  being  made  conform- 
able to  his  death,  if  by  ajiy  means  he  miffht  attain  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead."  In  his  second  Epistle  to  Timothy  the 
apostle  makes  the  loving  the  appearance  of  Christ  so  decidedly  a 
mark  of  grace,  that  he  appears  to  limit  the  reward  of  righteous- 
ness to  those  only  who  partake  of  this  desire:  "A  crown  (he 
says)  which  the  Lord  shall  give  me  at  that  day;  and  not  to  me 
only;  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing."  (chap.  iv. 
8.)  Hebrews  ix.  28  seems  to  make  the  same  distinction  and 
limitation:  "Christ  wa?  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many; 
and  unto  them  that  look  for  him  shall  he  appear  the  second  time, 
without  sin,  unto  salvation.  Finally,  "the  Spirit  and  the  Bride 
say.  Come;"  (Rev.  xxii.  17,)  that  is,  the  Church  of  Christ, 
which  is  the  Lamb's  Wife,  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which 
dwelleth  in  her,  longs  for  the  presence  of  her  absent  Lord; 
the  ardent  desire  of  her  soul  being  summed  up  in  that  single 
and  emphatic  expression — COME. 

2.  But  however  clearly  apparent  it  may  be,  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  Second  Advent  is  prominently  set  forth  in  scripture  and 
pressed  upon  the  believer,*  yet  do  many  Christian  ministers 
prefer  to  urge  the  uncertainty  of  life,  and  the  probability  of 
death,  as  being  in  their  estimation  better  calculated  to  excite 
the  believer  to  watchfulness,  and  to  arouse  the  ungodly  to 
calling  upon  the  Lord.  Now  it  will  commonly  be  found, 
\yhcrf;  trutli  is  in  the  abstract  thus  assented  to,  and  yet  is  prac- 
tically set  aside,  either  that  it  is  not,  after  all,  cordially  believed, 
or  that  there  is  something  erroneous  mixed  up  with  it,  which 
neutralizes  it,  and  deprives  it  of  its  power.  That  defect  is 
believed  to  be,  in  the  present  instance,  a  mistake  in  regard  to 

•  Oihcr  instances  will  be  found  in  Col.  iii.  4;  1  The.ss.  ii.  19;  iii.  13;  2  Thess. 

n  '  L'^'"'"-  '■'■  ''^'  '"•■'  -  'l'''»-  i^-  I.  2;  Titus  ii.  11—13;  Heb.  x.  3G,  37;  1 
Pclcr  1.  13,  and  1  John  ii.  !28. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    ^03 

the  imagined  period  at  which  the  advent  of  Christ  may  be  ex- 
pected. For  if  it  be  admitted,  that  the  church  is  to  expect  a 
second  advent  of  Jesus,  and  that  advent  is  nevertheless  sup- 
posed to  be  postponed  until  a  thousand  years  shall  have  elapsed, 
or  to  some  remote  period,  it  so  completely  removes  the  exist- 
ing generation  of  believers  from  any  immediate  interest  in  the 
event,  that  it  at  once  ceases  to  exercise  upon  them  a  practical 
influence.  It  will  be  useful  therefore  to  inquire,  what  is  revealed 
in  scripture  in  regard  to  the  time  of  the  advent.* 

(1.)  It  will  be  obvious  to  those  who  carefully  peruse  the 
scriptures,  that  this  important  event  is  spoken  of  as  if  it  were 
impe7iditig.  For  example — "The  Lord  is  at  hnnd.^'  (Piiil.  iv. 
5.)  <'The  Coming  of  the  Lord  dran-eth  ?iear."  (James  v.  S.) 
"The  end  of  all  things  is  at  ha?id."  (1  Peter,  iv.  7.)  Again  St. 
Paul  speaks  of  himself  and  others,  as  if  it  were  probable  that 
the  generation  in  which  he  lived  might  be  alive  at  the  coming 
of  the  Lord:  "For  this  we  say  unto  you  by  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  that  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming  of 
the  Lord  shall  not  prevent  them  which  are  asleep."  (1  Thess. 
iv.  15.)  "Then  zve,  which  are  alive  and  remain,  shaW  be  caught 
up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 
air."  (v.  17.)  So  again,  "We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall 
all  be  changed,"  (1  Cor.  xv.  51,)  would  leave  the  impression 
that  a  part  of  that  generation  should  remain  to  the  coming 
of  the  Lord.  The  same  conclusion  might  be  drawn  from  Pe- 
ter's mode  of  stating  the  doctrine:  "Nevertheless  we  look  for 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth;  &c." — "wherefore  beloved, 
seeing  that  ye  look  for  such  things,  be  diligent  that  ye  may  be 
found  oi  liim  in  peace,  &c."  (2  Peter  iii.  13,  14,)  and  there 
are  other  similar  passages  which  might  be  adduced. 

To  this  it  may  be  objected,  that  the  Apostle  Paul  does  ne- 
vertheless warn  the  Tiiessalonians,  Avhom  he  had  more  espe- 
cially enjoined  to  watchfulness  for  the  Lord,  that  notwith- 
standing what  he  had  led  them  to  expect  concerning  the 
nearness  of  that  day,  there  was  a  falling  away  from  the  faith 
previously  to  take  place,  and  "the  Man  of  Sin  was  to  be  re- 
vealed." (2  Thess.  ii.  2,  3.)  It  is  true  that  this  interposes  a 
certain  event,  which  must  first  trans])ire,  before  they  could  ex- 

♦  The  inquiry  is  here  waived  into  the  comparative  practical  tendency  of 
preaching  the  advent  of  Christ  as  an  impending  event,  and  dcalhas  an  impend- 
ing event;  under  the  impression,  that  it  will  be  sufficient  for  those,  who  humbly 
desire  to  take  their  standard  of  doctrine  from  God's  word,  simply  to  demon- 
strate to  them,  what  is  "the  mind  of  the  Spirit"  on  this  head.  Bui  should  any 
be  disposed  nevertheless  to  think,  that  looking  for  rfca/A  must  be  more  practical 
than  looking  for  Jesus,  they  will  do  well  to  read  some  very  forcible  remarks  on 
this  subject  in  the  Appendix  to  Anderson's  Apology  for  Millennial  Doctrine. 
Part  i.  pages  79—83. 


194  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

pect  the  Lord;  but  though  this  had  a  tendency  to  lead  them  to 
postpone  the  advent  for  awhile,  yet  was  it  for  so  short  a 
period,  as  to  affect  their  general  expectation  in  only  a  very 
small  degree.  For,  first,  the  early  Christian  Church  did  not 
understand  the  time,  times  and  a  half  oi^  antichrist,  of  more  than 
12G0  natural  days;  and,  secondly,  they  were  led  to  expect  by 
the  apostle,  even  in  this  same  place,  that  the  mystery  of  ini- 
quity was  already  at  work  (verse  7)  preparatory  to  his  revela- 
tion; and  by  another  apostle  they  were  led  to  conclude,  that 
the  spirit  of  antichrist  was  already  come  into  the  world,  (1 
John  iv.  3,)  and  that  indeed  already  tliere  were  '<many  anti- 
christs, whereby  they  might  know  that  it  was  the  last  time." 
(chap.  ii.  18.) 

Now  it  is  of  no  use  to  argue,  as  some  are  wont,  that  the 
apostles  must  nevertheless  have  been  persuaded  themselves, 
that  the  Lord  would  not  come  till  after  an  interval  of  1800 
years,  because  the  event  has  proved  that  he  has  not  come:  it 
may  reasonably  be  questioned,  whether  the  apostles  were  not 
themselves,  from  the  words  put  into  their  mouths  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  to  expect  the  time  of  the  advent  to  be  very  near;  and, 
like  the  prophets  of  old,  they  probably  "searched  zvhat  mantier 
of  time  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  was  in  them  did  signify." 
(I  Peter  i.  11.)  Be  that  however  as  it  may:  let  it  be  granted, 
for  argument  sake,  that  St.  Paul  and  the  other  apostles  knew 
privately  that  a  period*  of  1260  years  was  to  intervene, — yea, 
and  that,  after  that,  another  period  of  a  1000  years  was  to  in- 
tervene;— the  language  which  they  nevertheless  made  use  of 
only  the  more  clearly  shews,  that  it  was  expressly  the  mind 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  in  their  public  ministrations  in  the 
church  they  should  keep  the  minds  of  God's  people  in  a  state 
of  expectation,  arising  from  the  uncertainty  of  the  event; — 
not  an  uncertainty  which  left  the  church  at  liberty  to  wait  a 
thousand  years,  before  it  should  be  needful  to  consider  the 
probability  of  the  advent  being  near;  but  an  uncertainty,  which 
led  them  to  question  whether  the  event  were  not  even  then 
imminent;  and  to  stand  in  constant  readiness,  with  their  loins 
girt  and  their  lights  burning;  and  looking  at  the  things  of  this 
life  with  that  comparative  deadness  and  indifference  which  they 
must  feel,  who  thought  that  all  was  about  to  be  dissolved  and 
a  new  and  heavenly  state  to  be  introduced.* 

*  It  should  be  noticed  in  pa.^^sing,  with  respect  to  the  language  of  the  apos- 
tles, that  when  they  speak  of  the  prospect  of  their  departure,  (as  in  the  two 
instances  given  at  page  120,)  they  speak  individvnlly,  as  of  a  revelation  made 
to  and  concerning  themselves  personally  and  exclusively.  Their  language  then 
is,  "For  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at'hand."  "Knowing  that  shortly  /must 
put  off  this  my  tabernacle,  even  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  shewed  me." 
But  when  ihuy  speak  of  what  concerns  the  whole  congregation  of  believers, 


ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    J25 

(2.)  But  the  fact  is  sometimes  pointed  to,  that  the  church 
has  at  various  periods  been  mistaken  in  its  expectation  of  the 
near  approach  of  the  Lord; — that  the  most  pious  men  have 
been  deceived; — and  therefore  that  it  is  a  hope  very  delusive 
in  itself  and  dangerous  to  entertain; — and  that  on  this  account 
the  safer  method,  and  the  more  creditable,  is  to  urge  the  ap- 
proach of  death  instead.  This  is  a  mode  of  viewing  the  sub- 
ject which  many  in  the  present  day  entertain;  and  it  is  highly 
important,  therefore,  that  on  a  point  which  is  itself  so  practi- 
cal in  its  tendency,  and  which  so  materially  affects  the  right 
interpretation  and  application  of  prophecy,  the  fallacy  of  the 
objection  here  adverted  to  should  be  demonstrated. 

In  the  abstract  then  it  is  evident,  from  the  Scriptures  that 
have  been  brought  forward,  that  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  is — to 
preach  the  advent  of  Christ,  rather  than  to  preach  the  approach 
of  death;  and  to  preach  it,  as  if  so  uncertain  when  the  event 
should  come  to  pass,  that  we  ought  always  to  be  expecting  it, 
if  not  day  by  day,  at  least  within  the  period  of  some  three  or 
four  years.  And  therefore  any  scheme  of  prophetical  inter- 
pretation, which  postpones  to  a  remote  period  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  is  contrary  to  the  whole  drift  and  tenor  of 
God's  word,  and  ought  not  to  be  heeded  by  the  Church.  As 
Mr.  Faber  says  of  another  principle,  "it  bears  upon  its  very 
front  the  stigma  of  error."  It  may  be  that  the  advent  is  in 
the  meanwhile  postponed;  we  see  in  fact  that  it  has  been  de- 
layed, beyond  what  was  in  former  days  expected:  neverthe- 
less, it  is  not  the  will  of  God,  so  far  as  that  will  is  revealed  in 
the  Scriptures,  that  the  church  should  therefore  settle  down  into 
the  conclusion,  that  it  is  an  event  not  to  be  immediately  or 
quickly  expected:  on  the  contrary,  we  are  admonished  to  con- 
clude, that  the  Lord  is  not  slack  concerning  his  promise,  as 
some  men  count  slackness,  Jout  that  he  is  long-suflering  toward 
the  vessels  of  his  wrath;  and  that  this  long-suffering  proves 
salvation  toward  the  vessels  of  his  mercy,  who  are  during  tli^ 
period  of  delay  being  gathered  together  until  the  number  of 
the  elect  shall  be  complete.    (2  Pet.  iii.) 

But,  secondly,  the  mistakes  of  the  church  in  various  ages 
may  be  regarded  in  a  very  different  point  of  view.  I  consider  it 
rather  as  a  practical  evidence,  that  God  has  in  all  ages  overruled 
error  even,  for  the  benefit  of  lus  church,  and  thus  accomplished 
by  his  providence,  that  his  people  should  be  kept  continually 

it  is  in  ihe  first  person  plural— "Hx-  shall  not  sleep" — "JFe  which  are  alive 
and  remain."  From  which  it  would  seem  that  they  viewed  the  church  as  a 
corporate  body,  which  never  as  it  were  deceases,  albeit  some  of  its  members 
may  depart;  but  it  is  considered  as  existing  in  all  generations,  and  therefore 
\\p  to  the  time  of«the  coming  of  the  Lord,  and  into  the  very  crisis  of  those 
awful  events  which  will  accompany  his  advent. 
VOL.   II.  —  II 


|.)(5    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

watchful;  though  he  was  at  the  same  time  waiting,  with  a 
merciful  reluctance  to  strike,  not  being  willing  that  any  should 
perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repentance.  P'or  if  he  can 
overrule  the  zvrath  of  man  (which  we  know  "worketh  not  the 
rit'^htcousness  of  God,")  so  that  it  shall  nevertheless  praise 
him,  by  advancing  his  purposes;  there  is  surely  no  inconsis- 
tency in  concluding  that  he  will  much  more  turn  to  good  ac- 
count those  mistakes  and  failings  of  men,  which  savour  not  of 
malicious  wickedness.  Nothing  can  be  permitted  by  him,  but 
for  a  wise  and  beneficent  purpose. 

When  therefore  mankind  were  in  error  in  regard  to  the 
supposed  chronology  of  the  world,  (which  was  the  case  in  the 
early  ages  of  Christianity,  so  that  the  primitive  fathers  sup- 
posed the  6000  years  were  just  expiring,  and  the  seventh  mil- 
lenary was  at  hand;)  it  was  overruled  to  keep  believers  in 
the  Lord  more  watchful.*     In  like  manner,  when  this  period 
passed  over,  and  chronology  was  in  some  measure  adjusted,  a 
general  impression  prevailed  that  the  advent  must  be  at  hand, 
from  that  break  up  of  the  Roman  empire,  which  it  was  sup- 
posed was  immediately  to  precede  the  Lord's  coming.     At 
page  61  it  has  been  shewn,  that  in  the  twelfth  century  a  general 
opinion  prevailed  that  Antichrist  was  about  to  appear;  and  it 
must  be  remembered  that  in  the  primitive  church  the  revela- 
tion of  Antichrist  was  supposed  to  be  immediately  preparatory 
to  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  only  event  which  hin- 
dered it.     At  the  Reformation  we  have  seen  that  the  Protest- 
ant divines  were  generally  animated  by  the  expectation  that 
the  advent  was  near  at  hand:  and  in  the  extract  from  Latimer 
given  at  page  67  it  is  evident  he  thought  it  might  happen  in 
his  days.     They  considered  the  millennium  to  be  passed,  and 
that  only  about  450  years  remained  to  the  end  of  the  sixth 
millenary;  and  these  days  they  also  expected  to  be  shortened; 
thus  bringing  the  matter  within  the  probability  of  happening 
in  their  own  day  and  generation.     When  subsequently  a  new 
interpretation  of  the  1260  days  was  advanced,  and  they  were 
concluded  to  be  years,  yet  this  had  not  the  effect  of  postponing 
the  probability  of  those  great  events  immediately  coming  to 
pass,  which  were  to  usher  in  the  advent:  for  this  interpretation 

♦  Laclanlius  says— "Fortasse  quispiam  nunc  requirct,  quando  ista,  qufP 
(liximus,  sinl  I'utura?  Jam  siipcrius  ostendi  completis  annorum  sex  millibus 
mutaiioncm  istam  fieri  oportere."  And  again — "Non  ampliiis  quam  ducento- 
rum  videtur  annorum.''  And  this  period,  which  seemed  to  remain,  they  con- 
sidered would  bc"s/i.orlcncd  lor  the  elect's  sake;"  so  that  though  they  considered 
there  were  iwo  or  three  centuries  to  elapse  before  the  expiration  of  the  sixth 
millenary,  they  knew  not  how  soon  Antichrist  might  precede,  and  the  rapture 
of  the  saints.  Mr.  Greswell  refers  to  numerous  passages,  in  which  this  cxpcc- 
talion  IS  declared,  in  the  first  vol.  of  his  work  on  the  parables. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    127 

did  not  obtain  until  the  1260  years  were  at  the  same  time  sup- 
posed to  be  nearly  run  out;  so  that  practically  it  did  not  ma- 
terially damp  the  expectation  maintained.  Other  instances 
might  be  cited  nearer  to  our  own  limes:  but  these  are  sufficient 
to  shew  what  has  been  the  general  expectation,  kept  alive  by 
various  causes,  among  the  people  of  God. 

Among  the  various  mistakes  upon  the  subject,  some  have 
been  rashly  led  to  fix  the  event  to  a  certain  year,  or  even  a 
certain  day;  a  mode  of  interpretation  which  does  not  appear 
to  have  any  warrant  in  the  word  of  God;  but  the  contrary. 
For  though  abundant  is  revealed  concerning  the  signs  which 
shall  precede  that  event,  whereby  the  believer  may  know 
that  his  redemption  draweth  nigh;  (Luke  xxi.  28;)  yet  of  the 
day  and  hour  of  his  coming  it  is  not  given  to  any  man  to 
know.  (Matt.  xxiv.  3G.)  And  even  in  the  Apocalypse,  which 
is  by  some  supposed  to  be  a  subsequent  specification  of  the 
times,  the  advent  is  nevertheless  spoken  of  as  to  take  place 
suddenly,  and  as  a  thief  cometh. 

Granting  then  that  many  have  been  deceived  by  such  calcu- 
lations; and  granting  likewise,  that  the  whole  church  has 
been  repeatedly  in  error  on  this  point,  and  have  indulged  in 
delusive  expectations;  there  is  at  all  events  notiiing  in  the 
objection  drawn  from  previous  mistakes  on  this  point,  which 
will  not  apply  with  equal  strength  to  the  expectation  of  the 
advent,  let  it  be  entertained  at  any  period  vohalsoever.  If  there 
be  any  force  in  the  argument,  it  will  be  as  forcible  on  the  very 
day  previous  to  our  Lord's  actual  coming,  as  it  is  now;  and 
there  will  be  just  as  much  reason  then  as  now  for  deprecating 
the  hope  of  his  speedy  appearing. 

But  if  the  posture  of  mind  which  waits  and  watches  and 
expects  and  looks  out  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  or  for  the 
events  which  usher  it  in,  may  be  thus  proved  to  be  justitiable, 
(even  though  it  may  be  mistaken  as  to  the  time,)  because  it 
has  the  countenance  of  Scripture;  not  so  that  state  of  mind 
which  would  deliberately  postpone  his  coming  to  a  remote 
period,  or  which  would  defer  those  previous  judgments  which 
he  has  threatened.  As  it  is  declared  to  be  the  error  of  the 
sensual  and  infidel  scoffer,  to  treat  the  subject  with  derision, 
and  to  say,  "Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming?"  (2  Peter 
iii.  3,  4.)  so  is  it  declared  to  be  the  spirit  of  the  evil  servant  to 
say  in  the  heart,  "My  Lord  delayeth  his  coming."  Matt.  xxiv.  48. 
They  are  also  expressly  reproved  and  tiueatened,  who  say — 
"The  days  are  prolonged  and  every  vision  faileth;" — "The 
vision  is  for  many  days  to  come,  and  he  prophesied  of  the 
times  that  are  far  off."     (Ezck.  xxi.  22,  27.) 

Far  be  it  from  the  writer  of  these  lines  to  insist,  that  all 


198    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

who  defer  the  advent  until  after  the  millennium  must  be  evil 
servants  or  infidel  professors:  he  is  thoroughly  persuaded  of 
the  contrary  of  some.  But  he  verily  believes  them  to  be  in 
oreat  error  in  this  matter,  and  encouraging  all  who  hear  their 
sentiments  to  sit  careless  and  indifferent  in  regard  to  an  event, 
which  they  ought  to  be  looking  for  and  loving;  and  to  be  con- 
firming multitudesin  a  false  and  fatal  security,  in  regard  to 
the  character  of  the  events  which  are  coming  on  the  earth. 
He  is  persuaded  likewise,  that  they  speak  not  in  this  matter 
after  the  oracles  of  God;  and  it  is  for  them  therefore  to  con- 
sider, not  only  if  they  be  not  depriving  themselves  and  others 
of  the  influence  of  a  doctrine  which  has  a  most  powerful  effect 
in  keeping  men  dead  to  the  world  and  near  to  God;  but  if  they 
are  not  likewise  exposing  tiiemselves  to  the  danger  of  rebuke 
from  the  Lord. 

(3.)  There  is  another  view  relative  to  this  point,  which  has 
been  the  means  also  of  leading  numbers  practically  to  disown 
this  doctrine:  viz.  the  apprehension  that  in  some  of  the  most 
eminent  texts,  which  bear  upon  this  subject,  a  spiritual  or  pro- 
vidential coming  is  spoken  of,  and  not  a  personal  one.  It  is 
not  intended  here  to  insist  that  no  such  thing  as  a  spiritual  or 
providential  coming  is  mentioned  in  the  word  of  God;  neither 
will  the  mode  in  which  the  Lord  may  personally  manifest 
himself  be  here  discussed:  but  it  is  submitted  to  the  reader, 
that  there  ought  at  least  to  be  some  criterio?i  by  which  it  may 
be  determined,  when  a  personal  advent — in  other  words,  the 
proper  seco?id  advent  of  Christ — is  really  intended.  By  the 
method  pursued  by  some  of  spiritualizing  passages  which  speak 
of  it,  there  is  scarcely  a  text  left  in  which  such  will  admit,  that 
it  really  is  foretold;  and  thus  the  hope  of  it  is  as  effectually 
neutralized,  as  if  there  were  no  revelation  on  the  subject. 
Matthew  xxiv.  30,  for  example,  is  explained  by  these  to  relate 
to  the  Lord's  coming  invisibly  to  destroy  Jerusalem;  which 
event,  together  with  the  captivity  of  the  people,  is  likewise 
supposed  to  be  the  great  tribulation  therein  spoken  of.  Unfor- 
tunately iiowcver  for  this  interpretation,  it  is  "after  the  tribu- 
lation of  tliose  days"  that  the  advent  here  spoken  of  is  declared 
to  happen;  and  in  the  midst  of  troubles,  which  (if  Luke  xxi. 
be  compared,)  follow  the  termination  of  the  times  of  the 
Gentiles.  Further,  it  is  at  a  period  in  which  we  may  rather 
expect  the  restoration  of  the  Jews,  than  their  overthrozo  and 
scaltcriTi<r. 

Besides  this,  however,  it  may  be  laid  down  with  tolerable 
safety  as  a  criterion,  that  when  the  original  word,  by  which 
the  coming  of  the  Lord  is  expressed,  is  Tntpova-ict,  parousia,  it  has 
reference  to  his  actual  epiphany  and  personal  revelation.    When 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION,    jgg 

the  word  v;t=/"="  is  used,  it  may  be  questio?ied  how  far  it  express- 
es a  figurative  coming;  because  that  expression  is  applied  to 
the  coming  of  tilings  without  life,  liut  the  word  m^ouo-tn.  does 
not  appear  to  be  in  the  New  Testament  ever  so  applied,  unless 
it  be  in  one  instance  which  will  presently  be  noticed.  And 
even  were  this  the  case,  the  word  Tapci/s-w,  as  applied  io persons, 
appears  always  to  have  reference  to  the  actual  persotial presence 
or  arrival  of  that  person. 

The  following  are  all  the  passages  in  which  the  word  ^xpcva-ta. 
is  used;  the  word  which  represents  it  in  our  English  transla- 
tion being  put  in  italics.  (1)  IVIatthew  xxiv.  3,  What  shall  be 
the  sign  of  thy  coming,  &c.  (2)  v.  27.  For  as  the  lightning 
Cometh  (£?5i;;^sTa/)  out  of  the  east,  &:c.,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  be.  (3)  v.  27.  But  as  the  days  of  Noah,  so 
shall  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.  (4)  v.  39.  They  were 
eating  and  drinking,  and  knew  not  until  the  flood  came  (^xflsy) 
and  took  them  all  away. — So  shall  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man  be.  (5)  1  Corinthians  xv.  23.  Afterwards  they  that  are 
Christ's  at  his  coming.  (6)  Ibid  xvi.  17.  I  am  glad  of  the 
coming  of  Stephanus  and  Fortunatus  and  Achaicus,  &c.  (7)2 
Cor.  vii.  6,  7.  God  comforted  us  by  the  coming  of  Titus;  and 
not  by  his  coming  only:  but,  &c.  (8)  Ibid  x.  10.  But  his 
bodily  presence  is  weak,  &c.  (9)  Phil.  i.  26.  That  your  re- 
joicing may  be  more  abundant  in  Jesus  Christ  for  me,  by  my 
coming  to  you  again.  (10)  Ibid  ii.  12.  Wherefore,  my  beloved, 
as  ye  have  always  obeyed,  not  as  in  my  presence  only,  but  now 
much  more  in  my  absence,  &c.  (11)  1  Thess.  ii.  19.  Are  not 
even  ye  [our  rejoicing]  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  at  his  coming?  (12)  Ibid  iii.lS.  At  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all  his  saints.  (13.)  Ibid  iv.  15.  We 
which  are  alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  (14) 
Ibid  V.  23.  I  pray  God  yiour  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body 
be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  (15)  2 
Thess.  ii.  1.  We  beseech  you  brethren  by  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  our  gathering  together  unto  him. 
(16)  V.  8,  9.  And  then  shall  that  Wicked  be  revealed,  whom 
the  Lord  shall  consume  with  the  Spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  shall 
destroy  with  the  brightness  (the  epiphany)  of  his  coming:  even 
him  whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan,  &c.  (17) 
James  v.  7.  Be  patient  therefore,  brethren,  unto  the  comi?ig 
of  the  Lord,  (18)  v.  8.  The  coining  of  the  Lord  draweth 
nigh.  (19)  2  Peter  i.  16.  We  have  not  followed  cunningly- 
devised  fables,  when  we  made  known  to  you  the  power  and 
coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  (20)  Ibid  iii.  4.  Where  is 
the  promise  of  his  coming.  (21)  v.  12.  Looking  for  and  hasting 
to  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God;  &c.  (22)  1  John  ii.  28, 
11* 


1  on  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

That  when  he  shall  appear  we  may  have  confidence,  and  not 
be  ashamed  before  him  at  his  coming. 

In  reo-ard  to  the  above  passages  it  may  be  noticed,  first,  that 
in  the  examples  Nos.  2  and  4  the  verb  ipx'-'M'^'  is  used  to  denote 
the  comino-  of  the  lightrnng  and  of  the  JJood,  and  that  in  both 
those  instances  the  coming  of  Christ  therein  mentioned  is  dis- 
tinguished by  the  expression  7rafou<nit.  Secondly,  that  the  only 
instance  in  which  this  latter  word  seems  applied  in  the  New 
Testament  with  reference  to  any  other  than  a  person,  is  2  Peter 
iii.  12,  example  No.  21:  which  is  in  the  original  npccrJ^oKwru.;  rnv 
^apova-iAv  cT»c  T51/  ens  -^/Aifct;.  Supposing  our  translation  to  be  the  true 
readino-,  it  will  not  affect  the  inference,  that  the  word  Trcufova-M 
when  applied  to  persons  signifies  their  actual  presence;  but  it  is 
evidently  susceptible,  agreeable  to  the  rules  of  Greek  syntax, 
of  another  reading,  by  understanding  T^c^^s/iac  to  be  in  the 
Genitive,  as  denoting  time,  by  a  preposition  'understood,  (see 
Parkhurst,)  and  not  as  governed  by  Trcifovo-iav.  It  will  then  be 
''Looki?ig  for  and  hastetii?ig  to  the  presence  [of  Christ]  m  the 
day  of  God,  when  the  heavens,"  &c.  Thirdly,  examples  Nos. 
6  to  10  are  so  unequivocal  as  to  render  it  not  at  all  a  question, 
that  the  personal  presence  of  the  parties  spoken  of  is  intended. 
Nos.  5,  11,  12,  13,  20  and  21  will  be  equally  clear,  if  the  con- 
text be  taken  into  account;  for  of  what  other  than  the  personal 
coming  can  the  Spirit  be  speaking,  when  he  declares  it  to  be 
to  raise  the  dead,  as  in' example  13,  or  attended  by  his  saints, 
as  in  example  12?  The  remaining  examples  must  be  judged 
of  therefore  by  analogy,  from  the  use  of  the  word  in  other 
instances.  There  can  be  no  suflFicient  reason  assigned,  why 
Nos.  14,  15,  16  (for  example)  which  occur  in  the  Epistles  to 
the  Thessalonians,  should  not  be  the  same  as  Nos.  11  and  12, 
occurring  in  the  same  Epistles,  and  which  are  unequivocal  from 
their  evident  sense.  Nor  does  there  appear  to  the  writer  any 
sufficient  reason  for  disputing  any  of  the  others.  It  may  be 
proper  finally  to  observe,  that  if  this  word  when  applied  to 
Christ  signifies  a  personal  coming  or  presence,  then  by  parity 
of  reasoning  it  must  signify  the  same  in  2  Thess,  ii.  9,  which 
must  refer  to  a  personal  manifestation  and  coming  of  ''that 
Wicked  one;"  and  not  merely  to  the  system  of  anti-christian 
principles  of  which  he  is  the  head  or  leader. 

(4.)  In  the  last  place  I  would  remark,  in  regard  to  the  time 
of  the  advent,  that  if  those  great  events  be  considered,  which 
are  acknowledged,  or  may  be  independently  proved,  to  be  pre- 
millcnnial,  the  coming  of  the  Lord  will  be  found  declared 
somewhere  or  other  in  Scripture  as  synchronous  with  them, 
and  therefore  likewise  pre-millennial.  When  I  speak  of  events, 
I  mean  not  the  order  of  them,  nor  do  I  allude  to  circumstances 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    ^3^ 

which  may  be  considered  rather  as  stihordinate  details  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  Interpreters  of  prophecy  may  be  mista- 
ken and  (lifler  among  themselves  witli  regard  to  some  of  these 
particulars;  and  tliere  arc  others  of  them  on  vhich  it  were 
presumptuous  to  speak  with  confidence  until  events  shall  enable 
us  to  judge  of  them  more  clearly.  The  matters  I  refer  to  are 
events  which  must  in  themselves  be  taken  into  account  by 
the  student  of  prophecy,  and  which  force  themselves  on  his 
attention;  although  he  may  not  be  able  to  speak  with  precision 
of  every  particular  of  those  events. 

For  example,  there  is  the  destruction  of  antichrist,  which  is 
to  be  effected  (as  has  been  seen  in  2  Thess.  ii.  8.]  by  the  bright- 
ness, or  epiphany,  of  the  Lord's  coming  or  purotisia.  Either 
therefore  the  Lord's  glorious  epiphany  is  previous  to  the  mil- 
lennium, in  order  to  accomplish  this,  or  antichrist  continues 
throughout  the  millennium,  contraiy  to  all  proper  notions  of 
that  blessed  period.  The  same  thing  is  shewn  in  Daniel  vii. 
20 — 22:  the  Little  Horn,  which  is  admitted  to  be  antichrist, 
prevails  against  the  saints,  "Until  the  Ancient  of  days  conies, 
and  judgment  is  given  to  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  and  the 
time  comes  that  the  saints  possess  the  kingdom." 

If  again  we  regard  the  dales  of  Daniel:  whether  they  be 
considered  as  having  a  mystical  signification,  or  to  be  under- 
stood literally,  they  are  admitted  by  all  to  terminate  before 
the  millennium.*  But  it  is  expressly  declared  to  Daniel — "Go 
thou  thy  way  till  the  end  be,  for  thou  shalt  rest,  and  stand  in 
thy  lot  at  the  end  of  the  days."  So  that  at  the  end  of  those 
days  which  are  to  elapse  before  the  millennium,  Daniel  is  to  rise 
from  the  dead,  in  order  to  have  his  part  or  lot  in  the  glory  then 
to  be  revealed.  And  if  a  resurrection  is  then  to  take  place,  of 
course  Christ  must  then  appear;  for  when  the  saints  are  raised 
and  caught  up  it  is  expressly  declared  to  be  at  the  coming  of 
the  Lord.     Compare  1  Cor.  xv.  23,  and  1  Thess.  iv.  14 — 17. 

Again,  if  we  regard  the  restoration  of  the  Jews,  it  is  written, — 
"Thou  shalt  arise  and  have  mercy  upon  Zion:  for  the  time  to 
favour  her,  yea,  the  set  time  is  come:  for  thy  servants  take 
pleasure  in  her  stones,  and  favour  the  dust  thereof.  So  the 
heathen  shall  fear  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  all  tiie  kings  of 
the  earth  thy  glory.  Wheji  the  Lord  shall  build  up  Zion,  he 
shall  appear  in  his  glonj.^'     Now  the  restoration  of  the  Jews 


editions  of  his  work  did  likewise  make  all  the  dates  pre-millennial;  but  in  the 
latter  edition  of  it,  in  order,  apparently,  to  avoid  the  conclusions  on  this  head 
to  which  his  own  reasonings  would  force  him,  he  makes  one  of  these  periods 
very  absurdly  extend  through  the  Millennium  and  reach  to  the  final  casting  of 
Satan  into  the  lartvc  of  fire.  See  a  Review  of  Faber  in  the  Investigator,  Vol. 
iv.  where  his  numerous  contradictions  and  fallacies  are  set  forth. 


TOO    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

and  the  rebuilding  of  Zion  must  be  at  the  commencement  of 
the  millennium;  for  it  would  be  contrary  to  every  thing  pre- 
dicted of  the  millennial  state  to  suppose,  that  any  people  shall 
be  existino-  who  do  not  recognise  the  Lord.  But  then,  at  this 
building  of  Zion,  the  Lord  shall  appear  in  his  glory;  therefore 
the  Lord  shall  appear  at  the  restoration  of  the  Jews;  as  it  is 
written,  "There  shall  come  out  of  Zion,  the  Deliverer,  and 
shall  turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob."   Rorn.  xii.  2G. 

But  some  may  deny  a  literal  restoration  of  the  Jews,  as 
Jezi'S,  at  (uuj  jjeriod;  and  imagine  that  the  building  of  Zion, 
spoken  of  in  the  Psalm,  refers  to  a  future  glorious  triumph  of 
the  Church.  In  this  case,  however,  we  must  equally  place 
the  event  at  the  beginning  of  the  millennium:  for  what  sort  of 
a  millennium  would  that  be,  in  which  the  spiritual  Zion,  the 
Church  of  the  living  God,  should  still  remain  trampled  in  the 
dust?  Such  a  notion  will  not  comport  with  any  view  of  the 
millennium  at  present  entertained  by  christians.  It  clearly 
follows,  therefore,  whichsoever  view  we  take,  that  the  Lord 
appears  in  his  ^lon/  at  the  hegi?ini7ig  of  the  millemnum. 

This  view  is  farther  confirmed  by  a  consideration  of  the 
Feast  of  Taber?iaclcs,  the  antitype  of  which  is  to  be  enjoyed  at 
the  filial  restoration  of  the  Jews,  when  every  man  shall  sit 
under  his  own  vine  and  under  his  own  fig  tree.  In  Zechariah 
chap.  xiv.  there  is  described  a  great  warfare  against  the  na- 
tions, which  combine  together  and  come  up  against  Jerusalem; 
and  every  one  of  the  nations  that  continues  after  that  warfare, 
is  required  to  go  up  from  year  to  2jear  to  worship  the  King  the 
Lord  of  Hosts,  and  keep  the  feast  of  Tabernacles,  (v.  16.) 
This  description  of  their  going  up,  and  annually,  and  to  keep 
this  festival,  shows  that  the  transaction  takes  place  oti  earth. 
There  is  afterwards  a  punishment  described,  which  shall  fall 
upon  those  nations  which  neglect  to  go  up, — viz.  that  they 
shall  have  no  rain.  And  because  in  the  land  of  Egypt  it 
never  rains,  a  peculiar  and  distinct  plague  is  threatened,  if  that 
nation  go  not  up;  which  again  proves  it  to  be  a  state  on  earth. 
(v.  17 — 19.)  'Now  previous  to  this,  during  that  very  warfare, 
from  the  dire  effects  of  which  these  nations  escape,  the  Lord 
appears,  and  "his  feet  stand  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives."  (v. 
14.)  And  not  only  is  the  Lord  declared  to  come;  but — "all 
the  saints  with  Thee."   v.  15. 

One  more  passage  shall  here  be  adduced,  as  corroborating 
what  has  been  stated  concerning  the  resurrection  of  Daniel; 
viz.  that  which  relates  to  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb;  and  as  this 
event  is  no  other  than  the  union  of  the  Lord  with  his  glorified 
church,  who  has  now  put  on  her  glorious  apparel,  and  made 
herself  ready;  so  the  resurrection  of  the  saints  must  necessa- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    133 

rily  have  taken  place,  and  also  the  transfiguration  of  the  living 
saints,  and  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  But  the  marriage 
of  the  Lamb's  wife  is  in  Rev.  xix.  intimately  connected  with 
the  period  of  the  final  judgment  on  Babylon,  (see  verses  I — S, 
and  their  connection  with  the  previous  chapter,  and  apparently 
takes  place  immediately  after  the  judgment  on  tlie  great  whore, 
hni  precedes  the  judgment  on  the  infidel  confederacy  that  burns 
the  whore:  (see  verses  11 — 21.)  The  armies  on  white  horses, 
and  in  fine  linen  white  and  clean,  are  probably,  if  we  compare 
verse  8,  these  same  risen  saints,  who  receive  ^Hhe  hco-edged 
sword" — 'Ho  execute  vengeance  upon  the  heathen  and  punish- 
ments on  the  jjcople,  to  bind  their  kings  with  chains,  and  their 
nobles  with  fetters  of  iron;  to  execute  upon  them  the  judgment 
written:  this  honour  have  all  his  saints. — Praise  ye  the  Lord."* 
But  be  this  as  it  may,  it  again  makes  the  resurrection  of  the 
saints  premillennial;  and  if  their  resurrection,  so  also  the 
advent  of  their  Lord. 

The  same  may  be  proved  from  a  consideration  of  what  is 
revealed  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  this  is  an  ex- 
tensive subject,  and  occupies  so  prominent  a  place  in  scripture, 
and  involves  so  many  other  important  considerations,  that  it 
will  aflbrd  ample  matter  for  a  distinct  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VL 

THE   KINGDOM  OF   CHRIST. 

Having  treated  of  the  coming  of  Christ,  our  attention  is  next 
directed  to  tiie  great  objects  of  that  second  advent:  viz.  the 
Kingdom  and  Judgment  of  Christ  which  will  then  be  estab- 
lished. 

The  Kingdom  of  Christ  will  with  propriety  first  come  under 
consideration;  in  regard  to  which  the  notion  of  many  is,  that 
it  signifies  the  present  visible  Christian  church,  or  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  the  hearts  of  God's  people,  or  both;  and  its 
setting  up  and  establishment  in  the  earth  is  supposed  to  be 
commensurate  with  the  establishment  of  Christianity,  and  to 
have  been  manifested  to  the  world  ever  since.  This  view  is 
not  altogether  devoid  of  truth,  as  will  presently  be  shown;  but 

♦  Compare  Psalm  cxlix.  from  which  this  is  quoted,  especially  the  sentences 
in  Italics,  with  vers??s  5,  15,  18,  of  Rev.  xix. 


134  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

it  is  nevertheless  in  the  main  erroneous,  inasmuch  as  it  mis- 
takes the  means  for  the  end,  and  suhstitutes  what  may  be  con- 
sidered as  ihc  preparatio?i  for  the  kingdom,  (or  the  establishment 
and  mcmifestation  of  it.  But  the  reader's  patience  must  be  drawn 
upon,  whilst  this  matter  is  examined  step  by  step. 

1,  It  will  be  evident  to  any  one  who  reads  the  scriptures  of 
the  New  Testament,  that  John  the  Baptist  and  our  Lord  Jesus 
both  make  mention  of  a  kingdom  which  was  approaching,  or 
at  hand;  and  that  they  speak  of  it,  not  as  a  new  notion  or 
doctrine  introduced  by  them  for  the  first  time,  but  as  an  object 
of  expectation  familiar  to  the  Jews,  and  which  they  would 
readily  understand  without  the  need  of  Jesus  or  of  John 
explaining  to  them  what  they  particularly  meant  by  it.* 

That  the  Jewish  mind  was  prepossessed  with  this  notion  of 
a  king  and  a  kingdom  may  be  shown,  first  from  the  exclama- 
tion of  Nathanael,  when  brought  to  believe  in  Jesus  as  the 
Messiah, — "Rabbi,  thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  thou  art  the  Ki7ig 
of  Israel."  (John  i.  49.)  When  the  Lord  fed  the  five  thou- 
sand in  the  wilderness,  the  whole  multitude  would  have  taken 
him  by  force,  and  made  him  King,  had  he  not  withdrawn  from 
them.  (John  vi.  15.)  When  he  rode  triumphantly  into  Je- 
rusalem on  the  ass,  the  populace  shouted,  "Blessed  be  the 
King  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  (Mark  xi.  10.) 
"Blessed  be  the  kingdom  of  our  father  David,  that  cometh  in 
the  name  of  tlie  Lord."  (Luke  xix.  3S.)  And  this  indeed  is 
declared  by  St.  Matthew  (xxi.  4,  5,)  to  have  been  done  in  ful- 
filment of  an  ancient  Jewish  prophecy  which,  among  others, 
gave  rise  to  or  confirmed  this  expectation: — "Rejoice  greatly, 
0  daughter  of  Zion,  shout,  0  daughter  of  Jerusalem:  behold, 
thy  King  cometh  unto  thee,  &c.  (Zech.  ix.  9.)  Nor  was  this 
expectation  confined  to  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine  alone: 
when  the  Magi  came  from  the  East  to  Jerusalem  at  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  their  first  inquiry  was,  "Where  is  he 
that  is  born  King  of  the  Jews."     (Matt.  ii.  2.) 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  show  from  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  how  very  general  this  expectation  was  in  the  Israel- 
itish  church  prior  to  the  advent  of  Christ;  for  there  is  scarcely 
any  one  prophecy,  in  which  it  may  not  be  discovered.  It 
probably  liad  its  first  distinct  on^i/i  from  the  promise  to  Sarah, 
of  the  seed  who  was  to  be  w  sSvn  over  the  Gentiles,  and  froni  whom 
"•kings  of  nations  should  arise;"t  even  as  declared  by  St.  Paul, 

•  See  Matt.  iii.  2;  iv.  17,  23;  v.  3,  10;  vi.  10,  33.  Mark  i.  14.  Luke  iv.  43. 
These  texts  are  sutficient  for  the  point  in  hand:  many  others  might  be 
adduced. 

t  See  this  treated  of  at  page  26,  where,  for  Gen.  xvii.  6,  read  Gen.  xvii.  16; 

and  fur  ew.c^ no-ay  read  tu>.cyiic-it. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  ^35 

that  he  was  "to  rise  to  reign  over  the  Gentiles;"  (Rom.  xv. 
12.)  and  the  Psalmist  also  states,  "Instead  of  thy  fathers  shall 
be  thy  children,  whom  thou  mayest  make  princes-  in  all  the 
earth."  (Psalm  xlv.  16.)  The  same  expectation  was  again 
raised  by  Balaam  in  the  time  of  Moses:  "Tiiere  shall  come  a 
star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  sceptre  shall  rise  out  of  Israel,"  &c. 
(Numb.  xxiv.  17.)  The  last  words  of  David  (2  Sam.  xxiii.) 
were  on  the  same  subject;  and  in  numerous  other  places  the 
king  or  the  kingdom  are  spoken  of.* 

It  is  however  quite  iiolorious  that  the  Jews  did,  in  the  time 
of  our  Saviour,  look  for  a  king  who  should  in  an  illustrious 
and  glorious  manner  inherit  the  throne  of  David,  reign  over 
Israel,  and  obtain  dominion  and  possession  over  all  nations. 
It  is  indeed  objected  to  them,  by  many  who  interpret  the  word 
of  God,  that  they  mistook  the  promises  of  scripture  in  this 
respect,  and  putting  a  carnal  sense  upon  various  passages  which 
relate  to  spiritual  things,  looked  only  for  a  temporal  kingdom. 
This  objection  is  however  itself  founded  in  mistake,  in  more 
respects  than  one,  and  does  great  injustice  to  the  theology  and 
views  entertained  by  the  orthodox  portion  of  the  Jewish 
church.  The  grosser  Jews  did  undoubtedly  overlook  those 
exhortations  to  righteousness  and  those  intimations  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  conformity  to  God,  which  are  constantly  mixed  up 
by  the  prophets  with  their  predictions  of  the  times  of  the 
Messiah;  and  even  the  most  holy  portion  of  the  nation  had,  at 
the  period  of  our  Lord's  ministry,  lost  sight  of  the  prophecies 
which  relate  to  the  suffering  and  humiliation  of  the  Messiah, 
and  were  most  unwilling  to  have  their  attention  drawn  to 
them;  but  these  things  are  independent  of  what  relates  to  the 
throne,  and  visible  glory,  and  power  of  his  kingdom.  It  is 
not,  as  some  suppose,  that  they  mistook  or  perverted  those 
passages,  imposing  a  sense. upon  them  which  comported  with 
their  own  views  of  earthly  dominion;  nor  is  it  that  they  were 
unable  to  perceive  the  true  meaning  of  passages  which  are  now 
thought  to  be  so  plain  and  unquestionable  to  us.  The  fact  is, 
they  overlooked  passages  which  were  really  of  the  nature  here 
alluded  to;  but  most  of  those  perversions  imputed  to  them  are 
tiot  perversions;  they  understood  them  in  their  appropriate  and 
harmonious  sense,  though  not  perhaps  in  their /i///  sense;  and 
the  wonder  is,  riot  that  they  should  thus  have  understood 
them;  but  that  any  among  ourselves  should  understand  them 

♦  The  following  additional  places  may  be  mentioned:  viz.  Numb,  xxiii.  21; 
xxiy.  7.  1  Sam.  ii.  10.  Psalm  ii.  6;  xxi.  1;  xiv.  7—10;  Ixxii.  ex;  cxlv.  1; 
cxlix.  2.  Isaiah  vi.  5;  ix;  xi;  xxv.  8;  xxviii.  5;  xxxii.  1;  xlii.  1;  xlix.  6;  lii; 
liii;  Jer.  xxiii.  5,  G;  xxx;  xxxi;  xxxiii.  Ezek.  xvii.  22;  xxix.  21;  xxxvii.  24; 
Ix.  1.  Dan.  ii.  44;  vii.  13,  14;  ix.  24 — 27.  Hosea  iii.  5;  Micah  iv.  v.;  Zech. 
iii.  8;  ivr.  12;  xiv.  1,  16.    Mai.  iii.  1, 


136 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


otherwise;  seeing  that  their  primary  and  most  obvious  sense 
is  so  plainly  accordant  with  the  Jewish  expectations.  And 
another  remarkable  circumstance  is,  that  our  Lord  should 
never  give  them  any  hint  of  their  mistake,  in  regard  to  these 
expectations.  He  did  indeed  press  upon  them  the  need  of 
being  inwardly  regenerated  and  sanctified,  before  they  could 
see  or  enter  into  this  kingdom;  but  many  of  his  allusions  to 
the  kingdom  were  calculated  to  confirm  them  in  their  mistake, 
had  it  been  one;*  and  even  at  the  very  last,  when  he  was  about 
to  leave  them,  and  his  disciples  put  the  question  to  him, 
"Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore  again  the  kingdom  to 
Israel?"  he  does  not  tell  them,  "Ye  have  been  all  along  de- 
ceived in  this  matter;"  but  gives  a  reply,  which,  'while  it  ad- 
monishes them,  that  they  were  not  to  know  the  time,  would 
nevertheless  strengthen  their  expectation  in  the  general. — "It 
is  not  for  you  to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons,  which  the 
Father  hath  put  in  his  own  power."     Acts  i.  6,  7. 

Another  instance  in  which  the  Jews  are  misrepresented  in 
this  matter,  is  in  their  alleged  expectation  of  a  temporal  king- 
dom. If  by  temporal  is  meant  a  kingdom  that  was  not  to  be 
spiritual  in  its  nature,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  too  many  were  in 
error  in  this  respect,  as  before  stated;  but  if  by  temporal  is 
meant,  that  it  was  to  be  a  kingdom  of  only  limited  duration, 
and  subject  to  subluna:]:-y  changes,  like  other  secular  kingdoms, 
this  certainly  was  not  their  expectation;  for  they  looked  for  "a 
kingdom  which  could  not  be  moved,"  (Hebrews  xii.  28.)  and 
the  duration  of  which  should  be  "for  ever  and  ever."  Dan. 
ii.  44;  vii.  27.  And  the  spiritual  portion  of  the  Jews  would 
likewise  fully  understand,  that  it  was  to  be  heaveyihj  in  its 
nature  and  character;  the  phrase  kingdom  of  heaven  and  kingdom 
of  God  having  been  well  understood  and  frequently  made  use 
of  by  their  Rabbins. 

\.  We  have  next  to  make  inquiry  into  the  different  forms 
made  use  of  in  the  scriptures  to  express  this  kingdom,  which 
are  principally  three;  viz.  "the  kingdom  of  God,^^  "the  king- 
dom of  Christ,'^  and  the  "kingdom  of  heaven."  "The  kingdom 
of  the  Father"  is  so  evidently  the  same  as  "the  kingdom  of 
God,"  and  "the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  man"  the  same  as  "the 
kingdom  of  Christ,'''  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  consider 
them  separately.  The  other  three  expressions,  when  spoken 
with  reference  to  a  future  kingdom,  or  the  kingdom  proclaimed 
by  John  the  Baptist,  Jesus,  and  the  apostles,  may  equally  be 
shown  to  signify  one  and  the  same. 

•  See  for  example  Matt,  xix.  28;  xx,  23.  Mark  x.  37— 40,  and  Luke  xxii, 
29-30.  » 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    137 

For  example:  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  kingdom 
of  God  are  the  same,  is  evident  from  a  comparison  of  those 
passages  in  St.  Matthevv's  gospel  which  mention  the  former, 
with  the  parallel  places  in  Mark  and  Luke.  For  the  phrase 
''kingdom  of  heaven''  is  peculiar  to  Matthew,  being  never 
met  with  in  any  other  part  of  God's  word;  unless  we  except 
one  passage,  viz.  2  Tim.  iv.  IS.  wiiere  the  apostle  speaks  of 
the  Lord's  ^'heavenly  kingdom,"  which  can  have  no  other  sig- 
nification. Thus  where  Matthew  has,  "Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  o(  heave?i;''  (v.  3.)  Luke  has, 
"Blessed  be  ye  poor,  for  yours  is  the  kingdom  of  God,''  (vi. 
20.)  And  where  Matthew  has,  "It  is  given  unto  you  to  know 
the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  oi heaven."  (xiii.  IL)  Mark  has, 
"Unto  you  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of 
God."  (iv.  IL)  Matthew  indeed  does  himself  use  the  two 
phrases  indiscriminately  in  the  following  passage:  "Verily  I 
say  unto  you,  that  a  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  And  again  I  say  unto  you  it  is  easier  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  than  for  a  rich  man 
to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  (xix.  23,  24.) 

The  formulas  "kingdom  of  God,"  and  "kingdom  of  Christ," 
may  be  shewn  to  be  the  same  by  a  similar  process.  In  his 
narrative  of  the  transfiguration  St.  Matthew  relates  that  Jesus 
said:  "Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some  standing  here 
which  shall  not  taste  of  death,  till  they  see  the  Son  of  Man 
coming  in  his  kingdom:"  (xvi.  28.)  which  latter  sentence  St. 
Luke  has,  "till  they  see  the  kingdom  of  God  come  with  pow- 
er," (ix.  27.)  In  the  parable  of  the  tares  St.  Matthew  says, 
"that  at  the  end  of  the  world  the  Son  of  Mm  shall  send  forth 
his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things 
that  offend;"  and  immediately  he  adds, — "then  shall  the 
righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their 
Father;"  (xiii.  41,  43.)  thus  making  the  kingdom  of  the  Fa- 
ther and  of  the  Son  of  Man  the  same;  even  as  St.  Paul  calls  it, 
"the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God."  (Ephes.  v.  5.)  And  it 
is  further  to  be  noted,  that  the  parable  of  the  tares,  in  which 
the  two  formulas  just  mentioned  of  the  kingdom  are  used,  is 
introduced  by  the  use  of  the  third  formula, — "The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  likened, ",&c.  v.  24. 

In  regard  to  the  mea7nng  of  these  different  expressions,  "the 
kingdom  of  heaven"  is  most  frequently  used  by  St.  Matthew 
in  the  plural  number '»  0us-tKu-ji  Tf,v  cv^itvav  the  kingdom  of  the  hea- 
vens.  This  is  no  other  than  a  Jewish  phrase  to  signify  the 
kingdom  of  the  God  of  heaven:  the  phrases  heavens  and  God 
being  both  usef4  by  Daniel  in  this  connection  and  sense.  Thus 
he  forewarns  Nebuchadnezzar, — "Seven  times  shall  pass  over 

VOL.  II. 12 


iQg    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

thee,  till  thou  know  that  the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  kingdom 
of  nien;  Sec.  and  whereas  they  commanded  to  leave  the  stump 
of  the  tree  root,  thy  kingdom  shall  be  sure  unto  thee,  after 
that  thou  shalt  have  known  that  the  heavens  do  rule."  ii.  25, 
26.  In  this  passage  the  Most  High  and  the  heavens  are  evi- 
dently used  as  interchangeable  terms.  The  phrase  therefore 
of  St.  Matthew — kingdom  of  heaven — is  precisely  equivalent, 
and  must  have  an  ultimate  reference,  as  also  the  phrase  king- 
dom of  God,  to  the  sovereignty  and  government  of  the  Most 
High. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  Man  is  the  same  thing:  for  this 
glorious  sovereignty  is  to  be  administered  by  him;  "that  in 
the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times  he  might  gather 
together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven, 
and  which  are  on  earth;  even  in  him."  Ephes.  i.  10.  Thus 
Jesus  declared,  "All  power  is, given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth:"  (Matt,  xxviii.  18.)  and  he  assured  his  disciples,  "I 
appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father  hath  appointed 
unto  me,  that  ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table,  in  my  king- 
dom, and  sit  on  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel." 
Luke  xxii.  29,  30.  In  this  kingdom  Jesus  will  act  the  part  of 
Joseph  in  Egypt,  who  was  a  type  of  him:  for  as  Pharaoh  made 
Joseph  ruler  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt,  "only  in  the  throne 
being  greater  than  hjm,"  (Gen.  xli.  39 — 44.)  so  hath  God 
"put  all  things  under  Christ's  feet;  but  when  he  saith.  All 
things  are  put  under  him,  it  is  manifest  that  he  is  excepted 
which  did  put  all  things  under  him."  1  Cor.  xv.  27.  And  as 
Joseph  brought  every  thing  in  the  land  into  subjection  to 
Pharaoh,  and  surrendered  them  up  to  him;  (Gen.  xlvii.  23.) 
so  "when  all  things  shall  be  subdued  to  Christ,  then  shall  the 
Son  also  himself  be  subject  unto  him  that  put  all  things  under 
him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all."   1  Cor.  xv.  24,  28. 

This  kingdom  of  Christ  can  be  no  other  than  that  described 
by  Daniel,  (chap.  vii.  13,  14) — "I  saw  in  the  night  visions, 
and,  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  Man  came  with  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  and  came  to  the  Ancient  of  days,  and  they  brought 
him  near  before  him.  And  there  was  given  him  dominion, 
and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations,  and  lan- 
guages should  serve  him:  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting 
dominion,  which  shall  not  pass  away,  and  his  kingdom  that 
which  shall  not  be  destroyed."  And  the  participation  of  the 
.saints  in  this  kingdom  is  declared  in  the  further  setting  forth 
of  the  matter  at  verse  27:  "And  the  kingdom  and  dominion 
and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven 
shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High, 
whose  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  all  dominions 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    ^39 

shall  serve  and  obey  him."  In  which  two  places  observe, 
that  the  kingdom  appointed  to  the  Son  of  Man  in  verse  13, 
is  called  the  kingdom  of  the  Most  High  in  verse  28,  and  <'all 
dominions  serve  and  obey  Him."  Observe,  secondly,  that  as 
the  Son  of  Man  comes  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  to  receive  this 
kingdom,  it  must  be  a  visible  and  personal  inauguration  that 
takes  place,  and  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.*  And 
thirdly,  it  should  be  observed,  that  the  surrendering  up  the 
kingdom  to  God  by  the  Son,  at  "the  end"  of  the  period 
during  which  he  reigns,  is  no  lermincUion  of  this  heavenly 
kingdom;  it  will  be  an  everlasting  dominion,  passing  only  into 
a  still  more  glorious  and  perfect  state. t 

3.  A  very  important  part  of  this  inquiry  is  respecting  the 
time  when  this  kingdom  was  to  commence;  or  rather,  when 
the  power  of  it  was  to  be  made  manifest:  for  if  this  can  be 
proved,  it  will  with  many  determine,  in  a  great  measure,  what 
is  really  to  be  the  nature  and  visible  character  of  the  kingdom 
itself.  For  if  it  shall  appear,  that  it  was  to  be  manifested 
under  this  present  dispensation,  then  it  will  be  evident  that 
the  kingdom  was  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  propagation  of 
Christ's  religion,  or  his  ruling  in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  or 
the  usual  sovereignty  of  God  manifested  in  his  providential 
government;  but  if,  on  the  contrary,  it  shall  appear,  that  it 
was  7}ot  in  its  primary  sense  to  be  manifested  under  this  dis- 
pensation, and  has  vol  been  manifested,  then  it  determines  that 
its  character  will  necessarily  be  something  far  more  exalted 
and  different  from  what  has  been  hitherto  witnessed.  Though 
a  passage  or  two,  therefore,  have  already  appeared  which  bear 
upon  this  point,  I  must  still  beg  the  farther  patience  of  the 
reader  whilst  I  enter  into  it  more  minutely. 

First  then,  with  regard  to  the  kingdom  of  God  being  his  now 
reigning  by  his  power  and  'providence,— over-ruling  so  much 


*  Nothint^  can  do  greater  violence  to  Scripture,  than  to  attempt  to  interpret 
the  Cuming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  of  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem!  The  dominion  over  a/^  ?(fl/fo?w  10  be  given  to  Christ  was  not  in 
any  way  made  more  manifest  by  thai  event,  than  it  was  previously.  The 
coming  in  the  clouds  is  obviously  the  same  as  that  in  Acts  i.  9 — 12. 

t  I  do  not  apprehend  that  the  majesty  of  Christ  will  be  diminished,  but  on 
the  contrary  increased,  at  the  end  of  the  millennium,  notwithstanding  it  is  said 
that  he  then  delivers  up  the  kingdom,  and  lays  down  all  power  and  authority. 
It  will,  I  apprehend,  be  like  the  surrender  up  of  the  crown,  or  the  keys,  onlv 
to  have  them  returned  with  increase  of  honour  and  glory,  by  means  of  the  God- 
head shining  forth  with  still  greater  effulgence;  for  he  said— "I  and  the  Father 
are  One."  So  of  the  saints  it  is  said,  in  one  place,  "They  lived  and  reigned 
with  Christ  a  thousand  years,"  which  is  what  all  allow  10  be  the  millennial 
period,  however  they  may  differ  in  their  views  as  to  the  parties  who  reign, 
and  the  manner  oC  their  reigning.  But  in  the  description  of  that  more  perfect 
state  which  apparently  succeeds,  it  is  said  "they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever." 
Rev.  xxii.  5. 


140    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

of  the  wrath  of  ungodly  men  as  he  suffers  to  escape,  and  re- 
strainin"-  the  remainder  of  it.  Psalm  Ixxvi.  10.  Many  lay 
stress  upon  this;  pointing  to  the  fact,  that  the  Jews  unconsci- 
ously obeyed  God  and  fulfilled  his  will,  even  when  they  crucified 
the  Lord  of  glory.  Now  it  is  admitted,  as  beyond  dispute, 
by  those  who  believe  the  scriptures  and  know  any  thing  of 
God  that  **he  is  the  Governor  among  the  nations;"  (Psalm 
xxii.  28.)  "and  he  doeth  according  to  his  will  in  the  army  of 
heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth;  and  none  can 
stay  his  hand  or  say  unto  him,  What  doest  thou?"  Dan.  iv. 
35.  But  a  very  important  consideration  here  presents  itself. 
The  kingdom  concerning  which  we  are  inquiring  is  a  kingdom 
which  is  the  subject  of  promise.  It  was  at  least  the  subject  of 
promise,  as  also  its  king,  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  Moses  and 
Daniel.  But  this  overruling  and  invisible  government  of  God 
has  existed  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  never  can  be 
said  to  have  had  a  beginning  in  any  generation  since.  To  make 
that  the  subject  of  promise  therefore,  which  was  alread}^  en- 
joyed, would  be  absurd.  Things  are  sometimes  spoken  of  in 
prophetic  language  as  done,  which  are  yet  future;  but  never 
are  they  spoken  of  as  future,  if  they  are  already  performed: 
unless  it  can  be  shewn  that  they  are  the  subject  of  promise  in 
some  more  extensive  and  complete  sense  than  that  in  which  they 
are  already  existing.  Now  it  would  be  no  extension  of  this  over- 
ruling and  invisible  government  of  God,  to  say,  that  hereafter 
he  should  possess  «//  nations;  for  that  he  already  does.  It  can 
only  be  increased  or  extended  by  some  visible  marnfestaliofi  of 
it  to  mankind,  in  such  manner  as  that  all  shall  see  and  acknow- 
ledge it.  And  whatever  manifestation  of  it,  or  establishment 
of  it  in  the  world,  may  be  supposed  by  any  to  have  already 
taken  place, — if  only  it  can  be  shewn,  that  at  or  subsequent  to 
that  time  there  was  still  mention  made  of  this  kingdom  as  the 
subject  of  promise,  and  that  it  was  regarded  as  future,  there  is 
proof  that  the  kingdom  did  not  yet  exist  in  that  eminent  and 
special  sense  intended  in  the  promise.* 

As  we  must  exclude,  therefore,  on  this  ground,  that  reigning 
of  God  by  his  providence,  which  was  exercised  by  him  from 
the  beginning;  seeing  that  during  this  reigning  there  was  still 
a  kingdom  spoken  of;  so  in  like  manner  must  the  whole  period 
from  Daniel  to  the  first  Advent  of  Jesus  be  excluded,  on  the 
further  ground,  that  the  kingdom  is  promised  in  Daniel  to  the 
Son  of  Alan,  and  it  was  impossible  therefore  that  Jesus  could 
have  reigned  as  man,  before  he  was  made  man. 

•  Sec  the  scripture  argument,  derived  from  things  being  still  spoken  of  as 
future,  treated  of  at  page  91,  in  the  chapter  "on  the  Interprciaiion  of  Pro- 
phecy." 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    141 

That  the  kingdom  and  glory  to  be  manifested,  are  specially 
assigned  to  him  as  man,  is  evident  from  other  Scripture  testi- 
monies. In  Corintliians  the  Apostle  says  of  him,  "that  God 
had  put  all  things  under  his  feet;"  (I  Cor.  xv.  27.)  which 
saying  is  indeed  a  quotation  (as  is  likewise  Psalm  ii.  5 — S,) 
from  Psalm  viii.  wherein  he  is  thus  spoken  of, — "What  is  man 
that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?  or  the  So?i  of  Mtui  that  thou 
visitest  him?  Thou  madest  him  a  little  lower  [or,  for  a  little 
while  lower]  than  the  angels:  thou  crownedst  him  with  glory 
and  honour,  and  didst  set  him  over  the  works  of  thine  hand. 
Thou  hast  put  all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet."  Thus 
Jesus  declared,  "that  authority  was  given  him  to  execute 
judgmeTit  also;  because  he  was  the  So7i  of  Mafi."  John  v.  27. 
And  St.  Paul  affirms,  "that  God  hath  given  to  him  (on  account 
of  his  obedience  and  humiliation  in  the  flesh)  a  Name,  which 
is  above  every  name;  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee 
should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth."  Phil.  iii.  9 — 11.  He  who  thought  it  not 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  must  have  previously  possessed 
that  sovereignty  of  the  universe  which  has  been  mentioned; 
but  this  kingdom  is  the  reward  of  the  righteous  obedience  and 
humiliation  of  the  JNIessiah;  in  consequence  of  which  the 
Father  hath  determined  for  awhile  to  manifest  his  own  glory 
in  Hur,  and  to  put  all  things  under  him:  He  only  being  ex- 
cepted who  thus  puts  all  things  under  Him.    1  Cor.  xv.  27,  28. 

A  more  prevalent  notion  is,  that  the  kingdom  was  establish- 
ed at  the  birth  of  Jesus.  Now  the  best  proof  to  the  contrary 
of  this  is,  that  our  Lord  himself  teaches  his  disciples  to  pray, 
"Thy  kingdom  come;"  which  were  inconsistent  and  contradic- 
tory iiad  it  already  arrived:  and,  further,  he  spoke  a  parable, 
the  express  object  of  which  was  to  correct  the  views  of  those, 
who  thought  that  his  kingdom  siiould  immediately  appear. 
Luke  xix.  11. 

The  parable  just  adverted  to,  in  which  the  Lord  compares 
himself  to  a  nobleman,  who  had  first  to  go  into  a  far  country, 
and  to  receive  his  kingdom,  and  then  to  return,  (in  the  same 
manner,  that  great  men  of  the  nations  subjected  to  the  Roman 
emj)ire,  sometimes  went  up  to  Rome  to  be  inaugurated  and  to 
receive  the  diadem,  then  went  back  to  their  own  country  and 
exercised  the  authority.)  is  suflicient  to  show,  that  this  king- 
dom did  not  commence  (at  least  v/as  not  made  manifest)  at  his 
asceiision.  He  is  undoubtedly  seated  down  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  wielding  that  power  in  behalf  of  his  people,  which  it 
has  been  already  observed  Jehovah  has  exercised  from  the  be- 
ginning; but  thi^  is  not  that  special  kingdom  in  which  he  is  to 
be  made  manifest  as  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  and 
12* 


I  JO    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

when  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  the  king- 
doms of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,  It  was  this  latter  sove- 
reignty which  the  disciples  inquired  about  on  the  very  day  of 
his  ascension, — saying,  "Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore 
the  kingdom  to  Israel?"  and  to  which  he  replied,  that  it  was 
not  for  Uiem  to  know  the  times  and  the  seasons,  &c.;  but  that 
they  were  to  be  witnesses  of  him  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth:  (Acts  i.  G — 9)  just  as  in  another  place  he  declares,  that 
"the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  must  first  be  preached  in  all  na- 
tions as  a  teslimo/u/  to  them."  Matt.  xxiv.  14.  In  the  Apoca- 
lypse, the  Lord  clearly  distinguishes  between  that  throne  on 
which  he  is  now  seated,  and  the  throne  on  which  he  shall  be 
hereafter  manifested;  when  he  says — "To  him  that  overcometh 
will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in  rmj  throne;  even  as  I  also  over- 
came, and  am  set  down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne."  Rev. 
iii.  21. 

And  if  the  Lord  Jesus  has  not  yet  been  manifested  in  that 
glory  which  he  is  to  exhibit,  when  he  shall  take  to  "himself  his 
great  power  and  reign,"  (Rev.  xi.  17,)  so  neither  have  the 
saints  as  yet  been  made  participators  of  that  power  and  reigned 
with  him.  The  saints  in  heaven  have  not,  (i.  e.  if  it  be  the 
departed  saints  who  arc  represented  in  Rev,  v.  9,  10,)  for  they 
are  described  as  singing, — "Thou  hast  made  us  unto  our  God 
kings  and  priests,  and  yve  shall  reign  on  the  earth."  The  saints 
on  earth  have  not;  for  the  Apostle  exclaims — "Would  to  God 
that  ye  did  reign,  that  we  also  might  reign  with  you"  1  Cor. 
iv.  8.  No, — they  are  exhorted  "to  walk  worthy  of  God,  who 
had  called  them  to  his  kingdom  and  glory;" — "to  walk,  so  as 
that  they  might  be  accounted  worthy  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
for  which  they  suffered;" — they  are  called  "heirs  of  the  king- 
dom, which  (it  is  still  said)  God  hath  promised  to  them  that 
love  him;" — they  are  admonished  that  the  "unrighteous  shall 
7iol  inlierit  the  kingdom  of  God;" — they  are  assured  that  they 
shall  be  "preserved  nnlo  his  heavenly  kingdom,"  "and  that  to 
them  an  entrance  shall  be  administered  i?ito  it:"*  all  which 
passages,  when  viewed  together,  plainly  bespeak,  that  the 
kingdom  was  considered  as  not  yet  come,  at  the  time  when 
the  Apostles  wrote  these  things.  Indeed  all  notion  of  believers 
during  tliis  present  dispensation  enjoying  this  kingdom  is  ex- 
cluded by  tliat  single  tleclai'ation — ^'Jlesh  and  blood  cannot  in- 
herit the  kingdom  of  God."   1  Cor.  xv.  50,  53. 

It  ap])ears  indeed  highly  derogatory  to  the  promises  of  God 
and  to  all  just  notions  of  the  sovereignty  which  Christ  is  to 

♦  1  Thess.  ii.  12;  2  Thess.  i.  5:  James  ii.  5;  I  Cor.  vi.  9,  10;  2  Tim.  iv.  18;  3 
Peter  i.  11, 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    ^43 

enjoy  in  the  world,  to  call  this  the  period  of  his  kingdom. 
What  nation  acknowledged  him,  throughout  the  time  when 
he  and  his  apostles  sojourned  upon  earth?  Even  the  Jews  did 
not  acknowledge  him:  "He  came  to  his  own,  and  his  own 
received  him  not:"  (John  i.  11.) — they  declared  that  they 
would  nol  have  this  man  to  reign  over  them;  and  insisting  that 
they  had  no  king  hut  Csesar,  (John  xix.  15)  "they  crucified 
the  I^ord  of  glory!"  lie  was  indeed  nothing  more  than  "a 
servant  of  rulers."     Isaiah  xlix.  7. 

The  same  question  nearly  may  be  asked  even  now:  at  least 
we  may  safely  inquire.  Where  is  the  nation  in  which  the 
Lord's  "glory  is  openli/  shewed  in  the  sin-ht  of  the  heathen," 
and  the  whole  people  do  manifestl}^  submit  to  his  rule?  Isaiah 
says  again,  of  the  adversaries  of  the  Lord, — "Thou  never 
barest  rule  over  them;"  (chap.  Ixiii.  19)  and  if  it  was  true  in 
Isaiah's  time,  how  can  it  be  said  in  our  own  time,  that  the 
Lord  bares  rule  over  his  adversaries,  in  such  sense  as  to  com- 
port with  the  testimony  of  Scripture  concerning  Messiah's 
promised  reign.  By  far  the  largest  part  of  the  world  is  still 
heathen  in  name:  and  over  that  part  even,  which  surnames 
itself  with  the  name  of  Christ,  he  cannot  be  said  to  bear  rule. 
In  our  own  country,  for  example,  where  religion  prevails  per- 
haps as  much  as  in  any  other,  our  laws  are  rarely  framed  and 
administered  in  the  fear  of  Christ:  to  say  nothing  of  the  great 
mass  of  individuals,  who  openly  gainsay  his  divinity,  his 
power,  or  his  precepts,  or  who  scoff  at  and  oppose  his  people, 
or  who  in  some  way  or  other  betray,  evidently,  that  they  do 
not  submit  to  his  yoke.  I  repeat,  it  is  derogatory  to  the 
Lord  to  call  this  his  dominion  over  the  nations!  There  is  no 
king  among  men  but  would  consider  it  quite  incompatible 
with  his  honour,  to  allow  any  to  live  in  defiance  of  his  laws,  or 
in  habitual  rebellion.  The  question  therefore  may  even  in 
this  way  be  determined, 'by  noticing  whether  the  prince  of 
light,  or  the  prince  of  darkness  have  most  adherents,  in  the 
world,  and  whose  principles  chiefly  prevail.  No.  doubt  will 
then  remain  that  Satan  is  "the  prince  of  this  world,"  and  has 
a  kingdom  in  it  which  is  wholly  at  variance  with  Christ's. 
The  Lord  does  indeed  get  himself  glory,  by  "enduring  with 
much  long-suffering  the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction;" 
(Rom.  ix.  22)  but,  "We  see  not  as  yet  all  things  put  under 
him;"  (Heb.  ii.  8)  and  even  his  condition  on  the  throne  of 
his  Father  is  one  of  *  ^expectation,  till  his  enemies  be  made  his 
footstool,"  and  it  shall  be  said,  "Rule  ihou  in  the  midst  of 
thine  enemies."  Psalm  ex.  1,  2;  Heb.  x.  13.  Then  shall  the 
rod  of  his  strength  come  forth  out  of  Zion;  and  with  it  he 
will  dash  hTs  enemies  to  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel;  then 


14-t  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

.  shall  he  have  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole 
heaven:  (Dan.  vii.  27)  then  "a//  kings  shall  fall  down  before 
him,  and  all  nations  shall  serve  him;"  (Psalm  Ixxii.  11)  "all 
the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remember  and  turn  unto  the  Lord, 
and  uU  the  kindreds  of  the  nations  shall  worship  before  him:" 
Psalm  xxii.  27.  "As  I  live  saith  the  Lord  every  knee  shall 
bow  to  me,  and  every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God."  Isaiah  xlv. 
23;  Rom.  xiv.  11.    ' 

4.  There  is  still  a  question  remains:  viz.  at  what  period  is 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  to  be  manifested? — the  consideration  of 
which  will  further  tend  to  clear  this  matter,  and  to  prove  that 
the  kingdom  is  still  future,  in  that  sense  in  which  it  is  the 
subject  of  promise.  Now  this  period  is  evidently  the  secofid 
advent  of  our  Lord. 

Jesus  himself  tells  us,  "When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in 
his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit 
upon  the  throne  of  his  glory;"  (Matt.  xxv.  31.)  and  further 
on  he  adds — "Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right 
hand,  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom 
prepared  for  you  from  the  beginning  of  the  world."  (ver.  34.) 
From  these  scriptures  it  is  evident,  that  Jesus  will  be  then 
personally  on  the  throne  of  his  glory;  and  that  the  saints  will 
only  then  receive  the  kingdom. 

The  texts  just  instanced  will  also  serve  to  determine  the 
sense  of  two  others,  and  to  fix  the  period  of  time  mentioned 
in  them.  The  one  is  Matt.  xix.  28.  "Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
That  ye  which  have  followed  me, — in  the  regeneration,  when 
the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  in  the  throne  of  his  glory, — ye  also 
shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel."  The  sitting  of  the  Son  of  man  on  the  throne  of  his 
glory  must  be  the  same  in  both  places;  and  therefore  as  the 
first  is  at  this  time  of  the  advent,  and  the  latter  at  the  time  of 
the  regeneration,  so  the  regeneration  here  spoken  of  must  be  at 
the  advent;  and  can  be  no  other  than  that  mentioned  in 
Romans  viii.  18 — 23,  when  the  earth  shall  be  renewed,  and  the 
creature  delivered,  &c. 

The  other  passage  is  Matt.  xiii.  43.  "Then  shall  the  righte- 
ous shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father." 
The  context  shows  that  the  anrrels  are  sent  forth  at  this  time 
"to  gather  out  of  the  Lord's  kingdom  all  things  that  offend;" 
(ver.  13.)  and  the  context  shows  in  the  former  instance,  that 
the  angels  come  with  our  Lord  when  he  sits  on  the  throne  of 
his  glory;  that  a  separation  is  made  of  the  sheep  and  goats,  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  this  instance  of  the  wheat  and  tares; 
that  as  the  goals  are  bid  to  depart  into  everlasting  fire,  so  the 
tares  arc  bound  up  in  bundles  for  the  burning;  and  that  as  the 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  ^45 

righteous  are  in  the  former  instance  invited  to  come  and 
"inherit  the  kingdom,"  so  in  this  latter  instance  they  "shine 
forth  as  the  sun"  in  it.  Both  places  refer  to  the  same  period; 
and  this,  (as  we  have  seen  by  the  former  parallelism,)  is  at  the 
regeneration,  or  millennial  era,  when  the  earth  shall  be  renew- 
ed and  yield  its  increase;*  the  same  period  again  as  that  in 
Romans  viii.  IS — 23,  viz.  "the  manifesldlion  of  the  sons  of 
God,"  when  the  creature  itself  shall  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God. 

The  Lord  further  connects  the  period  of  the  advent  with  his 
kingdom,  first  in  Luke  xii.  32 — 36,  when  he  declares  to  his 
disciples,  that  it  is  the  good  pleasure  of  their  heavenly  Father 
to  give  them  the  kingdom;  and  then  exhorts  them  to  sit  loosely 
to  the  things  of  this  world,  that  they  may  be  as  men  that  zvail 
for  their  Lord,  zvhen  he  zcill  return  from  the  rveddivg.  Secondly, 
in  Luke  xxi.  25 — 31,  he  describes  the  signs  which  shall  ter- 
minate the  times  of  the  Gentiles,  and  usher  in  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  with  power  and  great  glory;  (ver.  27.)  and 
when  they  see  these  signs  begin  to  come  to  pass,  they  are  to 
understand  that  "their  redemption  and  the  kingdom  of  God  are 
nigh  at  hand.  Ver.  28,  3  L 

The  apostles  in  like  manner  connect  the  advent  with  the 
kingdom,  an  instance  or  two  of  which  connection  will  suffice. — 

In  2  Tim.  iv.  1,  St.  Paul  gives  Timothy  a  solemn  charge 
before  God  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  (he  says)  shall 
judge  the  quick  and  dead  at  his  appearing  and  his  kingdom; 
thus  making  the  judgment  of  the  quick  (or  living)  and  of  the 
dead,  together  with  the  appearing  and  kingdom  of  Christ,  to 
commence  or  transpire  at  the  same  period.  The  mention  of 
the  judgment  of  quick  and  dead  in  this  connexion,  however  it 
may  prove  that  the  kingchm  is  necessarily  future,  will  with 
some  appear  to  postpone  it  to  a  period  subsequent  to  the  mil- 
lennium. This  however  only  betrays,  that  their  notions  of 
the  judgment  are  not  according  to  the  general  tenor  of  the  scrip- 
tures (as  will  hereafter  be  seen;)  and  that  they  must  seek  for 
some  more  just  and  comprehensive  view  of  that  important 
subject.  For  the  present,  it  must  suffice  to  bring  forward  one 
other  passage  from  St.  Paul. — 

In  I  Cor.  XV.  it  is  revealed,  that  there  is  an  order  in  the 
resurrection,  viz.  1st.  "Christ,  the  first  fruits;"  (ver.  23.)'with 
whom   may  be  included   that  "handful"  as   it  were  of  saints, 

*  To  conclude  ihat  the  judgment  described  in  the  parable  of  the  tares  is  not 
before  the  millet^nium,  is  to  suppose  that  the  tares  will  grow  with  the  wheat, 
to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  throughout  the  millen- 
nium. 


14G     ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

who  came  out  of  their  graves  afler  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
(Matt,  xxvii.  52,  53,)  and  who  together  constituted  the  sheaf 
of  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest,  (Lev.  xxiii.  10.)  2nd.  "They 
that  at  the  coming  of  Christ  belong  to  him;"  (ver.  23.)  in 
which  must  be  included  the  dead  in  Christ,  who  are  to  rise 
first,  and  the  living  or  quick,  who  shall  be  "caught  up  together 
with  them  in  the  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air."  The 
1st  Thess,  iv.  15 — 17,  where  this  is  made  mention  of,  evidently 
relates  to  the  same  period  spoken  of  in  1  Cor.  xv.  for  here  also 
it  is  said,  "We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed, 
in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump;'' 
and  in  Thessalonians  it  is  declared  to  be,  when  the  Lord  shall 
descend,  ''witli  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of 
God."  But,  3dly,  it  is  stated,  "Then  cometh  the  end,"  or,  as 
it  is  in  the  original,  "then  the  end,"  (ver.  24.)  The  three 
periods  or  epochs  in  this  order  of  the  resurrection  are  thus 
distinctly  marked  "Christ,  the  first  fruits;" — "afterward  they 
that  are  Christ's,  at  his  comitig;" — "//<en  the  end."  And  what 
is  this  end?  It  is  declared  to  be  the  period  "when  he  shall 
have  delivered  i/p  the  kitigdom  to  God,  even  the  Father;  when 
he  shall  have  put  down  all  rule  and  all  authority  and  power." 
Now  there  must  be  some  period  of  time,  during  which  the 
Lord  shall  reign,  and  the  saints  possess  the  kingdom  with  him: 
we  have  seen  that  this 'period  cannot  be  in  this  present  dispen- 
sation; but  that  it  is  to  be  at  the  Lord's  advent;  and  we  here 
see  tiiat  after  the  advent,  which  closes  this  dispensation,  is  to 
follow  the  end  when  he  shall  have  reigned.  The  interval  there- 
fore must  be  betzveen  the  advent  and  that  end  when  he  resigns 
the  kingdom  unto  God,  who  shall  then  be  all  in  all.  And 
this  corresponds  with  what  is  revealed  in  Daniel  vii.;  where 
"the  thrones  are  cast  down,"  that  is  placed  or  set  down  (m^»crrtv, 
Sept.)  and  judgment  is  given  to  the  saints,"  and  they  take  away 
his  dominion,  to  consume  and  destroy  it  to  the  end;'^  at  which 
period  of  the  expiration  of  the  fourtli  kingdom  it  is,  that  the 
kingdom  of  the  Son  of  man  is  first  spoken  of  as  a  kingdom. 
Compare  verses  S,  9,  and  21 — 27.  It  also  corresponds  with 
Rev.  XX.  4.  "And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them, 
and  judgment  was  given  unto  them,  &c.  and  they  lived  and 
reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years:"  after  which  the  rest  of 
the  dead  live,  (v.  5.)  and  the  books  are  again  opened,  and  a 
judgment  occurs,  not  of  the  saints,  nor  by  the  saints,  but  upon 
those  only  whose  names  arc  not  found  in  the  book  of  life,  (ver. 
12,  15.) 

5.  It  remains  only  to  notice  a  few  of  those  passages,  which 
may  appear,  at  the  first  glance,  to  a  person  whose  mind  is  pre- 
possessed with  the  notion  of  the  kingdom  being  this  present 


ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    147 

Christian  dispensation,  somewhat  irreconcileable  with  what  has 
been  stated. 

It  has  been  admitted  already,  that  there  is  in  the  expression 
kingdom  of  heaven,  or  kingdom  of  God,  a  reference  sometimes 
only  to  the  circumstances  of  the  religion  of  Christ.  The  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  in  which  the  kingdom  is  mentioned  may 
consequently  be  divided  into  three  classes.  First,  those  which 
are  so  expressly  referable  to  the  future  glorious  kingdom,  (as 
has  been  the  case  with  most  of  those  already  adduced,)  that 
they  do  not  obviously  bear  any  other  sense.  Secondly,  those 
not  immediately  applicable  to  the  circumstances  of  the  future 
glorious  kingdom,  and  which  must  therefore  be  limited  to  the 
religion;  as  for  example,  Matt.  xi.  15;  xxi.  43.  Luke  xii.  34. 
The  third  class  (and  that  a  numerous  class)  may  be  referred  to 
either,  or  to  both;  as  INIatt.  vi.  33.  The  second  class,  how- 
ever, ought  not  to  be  considered  as  contradictory  to  the  others, 
nor  in  any  way  nugatory  of  them.  The  Christian  religion, 
with  its  ordinances,  and  doctrines,  and  that  invisible  spiritual 
aid  promised  to  the  believer,  is  to  be  considered  only  as  a 
means  to  an  end.  The  publication  of  these  things  is  that 
^'gospel  of  the  kingdom,"  by  which  men  are  instructed,  warned, 
or  exhorted,  in  regard  to  the  only  mode  by  which  they  can 
ultimately  attain  to  the  glories  of  the  kingdom.* 

But  there  are,  among  the  class  of  texts  just  adverted  to, 
some  which  speak  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  being  at  hand, 
(Matt.  iii.  2.)  as  come  nigh  to  them,  (Luke  x.  IL)  and  as  come 
unto  and  upoti  them,  (Matt.  xii.  2S,  Luke  xi.  20,)  and  this 
during  the  time  of  our  Lord's  ministry.  But  these  may  again 
be  explained  upon  the  same  principle  that  is  to  be  applied  to 
the  remaining  texts  of  that  class.  (See  page  123.)  But  besides 
this  it  must  be  observed  that  there  are  many  things  which  are 
in  their  fulness  and  final  consummation  yet  future,  whilst  yet 
they  are  frequently  spoken  of  as  already  enjoyed.  I  will  here 
instance  the  adoption,  which  is  not  made  manifest  until  the 
body  is  redeemed  from  death,  as  declared  in  Rom.  viii.  23; 
whilst  yet,  in  verse  15,  wc  are  said  to  have  received  the  spirit 
of  adoption.  What  is  said  of  the  redemption  of  the  body 
shows  us  further  that  redemption  is  in  its  completion  a  thing 

♦  This  beingan  admitted  sense  of  the  phrase  kingdom  of  heaven,  independent 
of  its  principal  signification,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  use  of  the  phrase  in 
such  a  sense  will  sometimes  occur  in  the  writings  of  the  Jewish  Rabbius. 
Schoettgen  and  Wetslein  instance  some  of  these:  but  Koppe,  in  his  Excursus 
on  the  Kingdom  of  God,  (translated  and  published  in  the  Investigator,  vol.  ii.) 
cites  instances  also  from  their  writings  in  which  the  phrase,  as  used  by  them, 
can  only  refer  to  the  future  glorious  kingdom  expected  hy  them,  and  shows 
also  how  the  fofmer  passages  have  been  misunderstood  by  Schoettgen  and 
Wetstein. 


148  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

future;  even  as  in  Ephesians  iv.  30.  we  are  said  to  be  sealed 
by  the  Spirit  unto  the  day  of  redemption.  And  yet  again,  in 
Ephes.  i.  7.  it  is  said,  in  reference  to  Christ,  <'in  whom  we 
have  redemption  through  his  blood."  Once  more,  saka(io?i  is 
spoken  of  as  a  thing  future  in  the  following  places,  Rom.  xiii. 
11.  1  Thes.  V.  S.  Heb.  ix.  2S.  1  Pet.  i.  5. ;  and  yet  in  the  fol- 
lowing it  is  spoken, of  as  already  arrived  and  received,  Luke  ii. 
30;  xfx.  9.  Rom.  xi.  11.  2  Cor.  vi.  2.  Tit.  ii.  11.  Now  the 
latter  texts  cannot  contradict  the  former;  they  must  therefore 
refer  to  the  "giving  knowledge  of  salvation,"  or  to  the  receiv- 
ing the  grace  whereby  we  are  led  to  embrace  the  hope  of  sal- 
vation, and  to  become  meet  for  it.  And  those  texts,  therefore, 
which  speak  of  the  kingdom  as  already  at  hand,  or  as  being 
come,  have  precisely  the  same  relation,  as  in  the  above  exam- 
ples concerning  redemption  and  salvation,  to  the  other  texts 
which  postpone  it  to  a  future  time. 

There  are  however  some  three  or  four  particular  texts  yet  to 
be  noticed,  which  seem  to  oppose  a  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
this  view  of  the  subject. — 

There  is  first  the  saying  of  the  thief  upon  the  cross — ''Lord 
remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom;"  (Luke 
xxiii.  42.)  which  conveys  an  impression,  that  Jesus  entered 
into  his  kingdom  after  his  death.  It  ought  not,  under  any 
view  of  it,  to  be  considered  as  a  contradiction  to  those  texts, 
which  plainly  declare  that  his  kingdom  shall  be  at  his  appear- 
ing; but  the  fact  is,  that  the  original  is,  "when  thou  comest  m 
(«v)  thy  kingdom:"  so  that  this  text,  when  properly  translated 
is  strongly  confirmatory  of  the  view  here  taken. 

The  next  is  Luke  xvii.  20,  21 — "The  kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  observation;  neither  shall  they  say,  La  here! 
or,  Lo  there!  for,  behold,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  -uithin  you." 
The  ordinary  interpretation  given  by  commentators  is, — tbat 
the  kingdom  of  God  ivilhin  them,  must  signify  the  dominion 
of  grace  in  the  heart:  which  interpretation  would  not  so  offend 
against  the  general  tenor  of  the  word  of  God,  if  it  were  not 
sought  to  force  a  similar  sense,  by  virtue  of  the  supposed 
meaning  of  this  place,  on  all  texts  where  mention  is  made  of 
the  kingdom.  Many  difficulties  would  thence  arise:  to  instance 
one, — it  would  imply,  that  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  was  still 
waiti?ig  for  the  kingdom  (Mark  xv.  43.)  was  zdlhout  this  inward 
grace,  whilst  the  Pliarisees  possessed  it.  Certainly  Joseph  could 
not  have  been  waiting  for  the  kingdom  in  that  spirit  of  faith 
and  patience,  which  the  mention  of  him  seems  to  imply,  unless 
the  kingdom  of  God  has  been  xmlhin  him  in  a  spiritual  sense. 
Other  commentators  would  therefore  interpret  it,  "The  king- 
dom, of  God  is  amo?ig  you."     But  it  docs  not  appear  that  the 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  149 

word  rendered  within  (c/tsc)  is  ever  used  by  Greek  writers  of 
the  Old  or  New  Testaments  in  the  sense  contended  for,  and  it 
is  extremely  doubtful  if  profane  writers  so  use  it.*  And  if 
this  v:ere  the  sense  of  it,  how  again  could  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
be  said  to  be  n-ailing  for  the  kingdom,  seeing  it  was  already 
among  them.  In  the  spiritual  sense  then,  the  kingdom  com- 
eth  not  with  observation;  for  the  Spirit  is  like  the  wind,  "we 
cannot  see  from  whence  it  cometh,  nor  whither  it  goeth." 
But  in  regard  to  the  manifest alion  of  the  kingdom,  our  Lord 
has  himself  described  the  signs,  by  which  we  maij  observe  its 
approach,  and  know  that  the  kingdom  of  God  draweth  nigh. 
And  he  clearly  shews  that  it  was  not  manifested  in  his  days, 
since  (as  before  has  been  stated)  he  spake  a  parable  for  the 
express  purpose  of  correcting  the  erroneous  notions  of  some, 
who  thought  that  it  was  about  immediately  to  appear. 

Another  text  brought  forward  as  an  objection  by  some  is 
John  xviii.  36.  "jSIy  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  On  this 
Koppe,  whose  Excursus  on  this  subject  has  before  been  ad- 
verted to,  observes: — "In  fine,  John  xviii.  30,  I  cannot  see  to 
signify  any  thing  but  this  (which  we  learn  from  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  life  and  doctrines  of  Jesus,)  that  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  would  not  be  like  the  kingdom  of  men;  that  is,  espe- 
cially, it  would  not  be  established  by  human  power,  nor  by 
the  might  of  human  armies.  This  was  the  only  thing  that 
was  required  to  be  stated  by  the  Roman  governor  to  deliver 
him  from  the  fear  that  Jesus  might  in  any  degree  assail  the 
authority  of  the  Roman  empire."  In  addition  to  this  obser- 
vation it  may  be  stated  here,  that  throughout  what  has  been 
advanced  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God  appearing  in  power 
and  glory  in  the  earth,  "it  is  the  iwrld  to  come  whereof  we 
speak,"  and  not  the  world  as  it  now  is. 

There  is  however  a  texf  which  at  first  view  opposes  a  more 
formidable  objection  to  the  doctrine  here  advocated;  viz. 
Mark  ix.  1.  "There  be  some  standing  here  which  shall  not 
taste  of  death,  until  they  see  the  kingdom  of  God  come  uith 
power."  St.  Matthew  has  it,  "till  they  see  the  Son  of  Man 
comitig  in  his  kingdom."  xvi.  2S.  Certainly  these  expres- 
sions— "the  kingdom  of  God  coming  with  pon-er,''  and  "the 
Son  of  Man  coming  in  his  kingdom,"  are  as  strongly  descrip- 
tive of  the  majestij  of  that  kingdom,  as  they  well  can  be;  and 
seeing  that  this  demonstration  of  the  power  of  it  was  to  he 
beheld  by  some  of  those  then  standing  by,  and  that  it  must  be 
superior  to  that  already  witnessed  by  them,  (such  as  the  cast- 

♦  See  this  pomt  ably  treated  by  a  writer  signed  E,  in  the  Investigator,  vol. 
1.  page  99. 

VOL.  II.  — 13 


150  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

ing  out  devils,  raising  the  dead,  &c.)  there  seems  to  be  nothing 
to  which  it  can  at  all  answer  during  the  life  time  of  any  of  that 
generation,  but  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  or  the  pentecostal 
effusion  of  the  Spirit;  both  of  which  have  consequently  been 
called  the  power  and  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
reference  to  this  place.  It  happens  however,  in  this  instance, 
that  the  co7itext  is  entirely  overlooked.  In  all  three  of  the 
gospels  in  which  this  declaration  of  our  Lord  is  recorded,*  it 
is  immediately  followed,  without  any  other  matter  interven- 
ing, by  the  narrative  that  Jesus,  a  few  days  after  this  saying, 
took  Peter,  James  and  John  up  into  the  mount,  and  was  trans- 
figured before  them,  and  that  Moses  and  Elijah  appeared  with 
him  in  glory.  JNow  the  connection  of  this  narrative  with  the 
previous  saying,  in  all  three  instances, — made  more  strikingly 
so  in  St.  Luke  by  his  introduction  of  it;  "and  it  came  to  pass 
about  an  eight  days  after  these  sayings,  he  took  Peter,-'  &c. — 
might  lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  this  transfiguration  was  an 
exhibition,  in  the  way  of  pattern,  to  the  Apostles  of  the  power 
and  majesty  which  Jesus  should  display,  when  he  should  come 
in  the  glory  of  his  kingdom:  but  it  is  put  beyond  reasonable 
question  that  it  is  so,  by  Peter  who  was  one  of  the  three  wit- 
nesses to  it;  for  he  tells  us  in  his  2d  Epistle — <'We  have  not 
followed  cunningly  devised  fables,  when  we  made  known  unto 
you  the  poicer  and  comwg  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  were 
eije-wilnesses  of  his  majesty;"  and  he  then  proceeds  to  point  to 
tifiis  transaction,  and  to  the  voice  of  the  Father  which  came 
from  out  of  the  excellent  glory,  which  they  also  heard  when 
they  were  with  him  in  the  holy  mount.  2  Peter  i.  16 — IS.  This 
shews  therefore,  that  our  Lord  did  not  allude,  in  his  declara- 
tion (Mark  ix.  1,)  to  the  period  when  his  power  and  coming 
should  commence;  but  to  that  visible  specimen  and  earnest  of  it, 
which  he  here  gave  them. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  JUDGMENT. 

A  more  serious  objection  will  seem,  in  the  minds  of  many, 
to  lie  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Kingdom  just  propounded, 
arising  from  the  numerous  Scriptures  which  set  forth  Christ 

*  Malt.  xvi.  xvii.    Mark  ix.  and  Luke  ii. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    15^ 

as  comina;  to  jud^e  the  world  at  his  second  advent.  The 
seeming  difficulty  however  again  consists  in  the  circumstance 
of  our  having  lost  sight  of  the  statements  on  the  subject  con- 
tained in  the  word  of  God;  which,  when  viewed  in  the  gene- 
ral, will  be  found  decidedly  to  support  and  confirm  what  has 
been  advanced. 

The  single  idea  entertained  of  the  judgment  by  most  per 
sons  is,  that  it  will  be  a  great  assize,  at  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
will  preside,  and  all  mankind  be  put  upon  their  trial.  But  the 
characteristics  of  a  judge,  as  given  in  the  Scriptures,  are  as 
follows:  to  rule  and  govern  as  a  king;  to  deliver  and  avenge  his 
people;  and  to  protect  and  defend  them  from  their  enemies:  whence 
it  follows,  that  the  judgment  of  Christ  must  consist,  not  only 
in  vengeance  and  punishment,  but  also  in  government  and  rule, 
and  that  the  Lord  must  consequently  act  the  King,  in  this  his 
character  of  Judge. 

1.  In  proof  of  this,  the  instances  may  be  pointed  to  of  all 
those,  who  in  ancient  times  were  raised  up  by  the  Lord  and 
made  judges  over  Israel, — as  Gideon,  Sampson,  Jephtha  and 
others.  In  this  character  they  were  all  of  them  types  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  the  great  Judge;  and  it  would  appear  that,  having 
avenged  the  people  on  their  enemies,  they  exercised  rule  and 
authority  over  the  nation,  during  the  period  that  they  conti- 
nued to  judge  it.  And  when  the  nation  afterwards  demanded 
a  king,  it  was  not  so  much  a  change  in  the  nature  of  the  office 
which  they  desired,  as  a  more  complete  and  fixed  state  of  it; 
for  they  were  unwilling  any  longer  to  be  dependent  on  the 
Lord  Jehovah,  cither  to  fight  their  battles,  or  to  raise  them  up 
Saviours;  but  they  cried,  "We  will  have  a  king  over  us,  that 
we  also  may  be  like  all  the  nations:  and  that  our  king  may 
judge  us,  and  fight  our  battles."  Thus  the  king  was  still  to 
be  the  Judge:  just  as  St. 'Paul,  (Rom.  xiv.  9.)  speaking  of  our 
all  standing  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  says — "that  to 
this  end  Christ  both  died  and  rose  and  revived,  that  lie  might 
be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living,'^  the  same  thing  as  in 
parallel  places  is  described  as  his  being  the  "Judge  both  of 
quick  and  dead."  Compare  Acts  x.  42.  2  Tim.  iv.  1.  1  Pet. 
iv.  5. 

The  chief  prophecies  which  relate  to  Christ  as  a  Judge,  and 
to  the  judgment  he  will  execute,  will  further  demonstrate,  that 
princely  rule  and  government  are  to  be  the  special  character- 
istics of  his  judgment,  and  that  it  will  be  a  continued  office 
among  or  over  the  nations.  A  few  passages  will  serve  to  place 
this  matter,  as  it  is  hoped,  in  a  clear  point  of  view. 

In  Psalm*  Ixxii.  1 — 4,  it  is  written — "Give  the  King  thy 
judgments,  0  God,  and  thy  righteousness  unto  the  King's  Son. 


15'>    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

He  shall  judge  thy  jDCople  with  righteousness,  and  thy  poor 
with  juc/<rmt'nts.  The  mountains  shall  bring  peace  to  the 
people,  and  the  little  hills,  by  righteousness.  For  he  shall 
judge  the  poor  of  the  people,  he  shall  save  the  children  of  the 
needy,  and  shall  break  in  pieces  the  oppressor.''  Here  the  par- 
ties, whom  it  is  said  he  shall  principally  j;/c/o-e  zvith  judgme?its, 
are  the  poor  and  fieedy — the  very  persons  to  whom  the  Lord 
declares,  in  so  many  places,  he  will  look  with  mercy,  and 
whose  Saviour  it  is  his  glory  especially  to  be  called.  The 
notion  therefore  of  their  being  visited  with  judgments  in  the 
way  of  wrath  is  excluded:  his  judgments  are  to  save  them 
from  oppressors,  and  then  to  govern  them  in  righteousness; 
though  even  they  will  have  to  stand  before  his  judgment  seat, 
and  give  account  of  themselves  to  God. 

The  following  sentences  from  the  Psalms  are  nearly  of  a 
similar  character,  one  with  the  other, — "Arise,  0  God,  judge 
the  earth;  for  thou  shalt  inherit  all  nations."  Psalm  Ixxxii.  8. 
'•For  lie  (the  Lord)  cometh,  for  he  cometh  to  judge  the  earth: 
he  shall  judge  {he  zvorld  with  righteousness  and  the  people  with 
his  truth."  Psalm  xcvi.  13.  "For  the  Lord  cometh  io  judge 
the  earth:  with  righteousness  shall  he  judge  the  u-orld,  and  the 
people  with  equity."  Psalm  xcviii.  9.  "He  shall  judge  the 
XKorld  in  righteousness;  He  shall  minister  judgment  to  the  people 
in  uprightness."  Psaljn  ix.  8.  "0,  let  the  natio?is  be  glad 
and  sing  for  joy!  for  thou  shall  judge  the  people  righteously, 
and  govern  the  fiations  upon  earth."  Psalm  Ixvii.  4.  In  these 
passages  is  unanimously  declared  a  righteous  government  upon 
earth.  It  is  over  the  nations  that  the  judgment  is  to  be  insti- 
tuted, and  it  is  to  the  7iations  (or  "peoples" — the  original  is 
plural)  that  it  is  to  be  "ministered."  This  implies  that  they 
will  be  existing  as  nations  at  the  time  when  the  judgment  shall 
be  exercised  among  them;  and  their  being  called  upon  to 
rejoice  shews,  that  it  will  prove  a  blessing  to  them,  and  not,  as 
is  commonly  supposed,  a  punishment.  In  some  of  these  sen- 
tences indeed,  the  latter  clauses,  which  are  explanatory  of  the 
former,  or  inductions  of  them,  clearly  point  out  what  the  nature 
of  the  judgment  is  to  be.  For  example,  in  Psalm  Ixxxii,  "to 
judge  the  earth"  is  explained  by  inheriting  all  natioiis.  In 
Psalm  ix.  "to  judge  the  world  in  righteousness,  is  to  administer 
judgment  to  the  peoples  {y=Lw,  Sept.)  In  Psalm  Ixvii.  "to  judge 
the  peoples"  (again  plural  in  the  original)  is  to  govern  the  na- 
tions (or  gentiles)  upon  earth."  These  things  are  made  still 
more  apparent  by  other  prophets.  Both  Micah  and  Isaiah 
declare  of  him,  that  "He  shall  judge  among  many  peoples,  and 
rebuke  strong  nations  afar  oflT;"  (Micah  iv.  3.  Isaiah  ii.  4.)  and 
the  fact  which  immediately  follows  in   both  prophets, — that 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    153 

they  are  to  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruning  hooks,  and  not  learn  war  any  more,  whilst 
it  prov'es  tlie  continuation  of  his  judgment,  and  that  it  is  in  the 
t'ar/A,  manifests  likewise  the  peaceful  blessings  that  accompany 
his  judgment,  Jeremiah  also  declares,  (xxiii,  5.)  "Behold!  a 
king  shall  reign  and  prosper,  and  shall  execute  judgment  ayid 
justice  in  the  eaiih."  The  whole  of  the  testimony  here  brought 
forward  to  prove,  that  the  judgment  of  Christ  is,  principally, 
his  reigjiing  upon  the  earth, — first,  delivering  his  people  from 
their  enemies,  then  ruling  them,  and  likewise  the  nations,  with 
holy  statutes  or  judgments, — may  be  summed  up  in  one  pas- 
sage in  Isaiah  xxiii.  22.  "The  Lord  is  our  Judge, — the  Lord 
is  our  Lawgiver, — the  Lord  is  our  King, — He  will  save 
us!'-' 

(2.)  Another  point  connected  with  this  subject,  and  which 
will  further  tend  to  clear  and  prove  the  view  here  taken,  is, 
the  participation  of  the  saints  in  the  Judgment  spoken  of;  for 
if  the  ^'Judge  of  Israel,"  and  "the  King  of  Israel,"  are  in  the 
person  of  Christ  one  and  the  same  office,  it  follows  that  those 
who  are  to  be  "kings  and  priests"  with  him,  and  who  are  "to 
sit  in  his  throne,"  are  in  like  mSinner  judges;  and  the  scriptures 
will  speak  o(  their  rule  in  the  same  manner  that  they  speak  of 
Christ's  rule, — viz.  as  being  a  judgment.  There  is  however 
abundant  evidence  to  this  point. 

First,  Enoch  prophesied,  "Behold  the  Lord  cometh  with 
myriads  of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all."  Jude  14, 
15.  David  says,  "that  to  execute  the  judgment  written  is  an 
honour  which  all  the  saints  are  to  have."  Psalm  cxlix.  5 — 9. 
In  the  vision  which  Daniel  had  of  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord, 
we  have  already  seen,  in  the  former  chapter,  that  he  saw  the 
thrones  placed  down,  and  jxidgment  was  given  to  the  saints  of 
the  Most  liigli;" — "and  the  time  came  that  the  saints  possessed 
the  kingdom."  Dan.  vii.  And  St.  Paul  declares  explicitly, 
"that  the  saints  ?,\\^\\  judge  the  world."      1  Cor.  vi.  2,  3. 

It  has  indeed  been  asserted  hy  some,  that  the  word  sahits  in 
these  places,  and  in  one  or  two  similar  to  them  in  Zechariah, 
Thessalonians,  &c.  signifies,  not  sanctified  hinnan  beings,  but 
the  holy  and  elect  angels,  who  are  to  attend  Christ  when  he 
comes  to  sit  on  th6  throne  of  his  glory.  This  is  quite  incon- 
sistent with  the  doctrine  of  scripture  in  other  places:  "Know 
ye  not  (saith  the  apostle)  that  the  6rt/?i/s  shall  judge  the  world?" 
1  Cor.  vi.  2.  The  context  shews  us,  whom  he  means  by  the 
saints;  for  he  adds, — "and  if  the  world  shall  be  judged  by  you, 
are  ye  unwortliy  to  judge  the  smallest  matters."  Yea,  he  goes 
further,  and  adds, — "Know  ye  not  that  ye  shall  judge  a7?i^e/s?" 
thus  showing,  that  instead  of  the  saints,  who  come  with  Christ 
13* 


1  54  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

to  rule,  and  who  have  judgment  given   to   them,  being  the 
angels,  the  angels  themselves  are  the  subjects  of  that  judgment. 
For  as  Christ  our  head  is  exalted  above  the  thrones  and  prin- 
cipalities and  powers  in  heavenly  places,  (Ephes.  i,  20 — 23) 
so  must  the  members  of  Christ  necessarily  be  likewise;  unless 
there  be  a  schism  in  the  body  when  glorified:  but  no,  we  are 
again  assured,  "that  we  are  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with 
Christ,  (if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him,)  that  we  may  be  also 
glorified  together.     Rom.  viii.  17.      It  may  be  further  shown, 
from  Matt.  xix.  28,  that  the  saints  who  are  to  ju-^ge  are  not 
angels;  for  there  the  Lord  promises  to  his  aposiles  in  par- 
ticular, "that  in  the  regeneration,  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall 
sit  in  the  throne  of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve 
thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."     Indeed  the 
angels  are  declared  to  be   ''mi?nstering  spirits,  sent  forth  to 
minister  to  those,  who  are  the  heirs  of  salvation."  Heb.  i.  14. 
The  passage  in  1  Cor.  vi.  2,  3,  is  so  convincing,  as  to  the 
participation  of  the  saints  in  the  judgment,  that  most  commen- 
tators are  compelled  to  admit,  that  the  saints  will,  i/i  some  7vay 
or  other,  be  joined  with  Christ  in  the  judgment.      But,  in  rvhat 
way? — If  the  judgment  is  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  kind  of 
trial,  in  which  rewards  and  punishments  are  to  be  determined 
by  the  Lord,  the  saints  will  themselves  (as  before  stated)  have 
to  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  and  give  account 
of  the  deeds  done  in  the  body;  and  then  the  secrets  of  all 
hearts  shall  be  revealed,  and  every  one  shall  be  rewarded  ac- 
cording to  his  works."     Rom.  xiv.  10 — 12;  2  Cor,  v.  10.     It 
is  therefore  considered  by  some,  that  the  saints  will  be  first 
tried  and  acquitted,  and  then  will  take  their  seat  on  the  bench 
(as  it  were)  and  become   assessors   in   the  judgment  on   the 
wicked.     It  is  humbly  conceived,  however,  that  if  the  persons 
disposed  to  this  opinion  would  but  follow  out  their  own  hypo- 
thesis to  those  necessary  consequences  to  which  it  must  lead, 
they  would  at  once  be  convinced  of  its  absurdity.      For  how 
shall  the  saints  be  assessors  at  the  trial  of  the  wicked?     Is  it 
for  them  to  determine  the  innocence  or  guilt,  or  the  amoimt  of 
the  guilt,  of  the  parties?  or  is  it  for  them  to  award  the  punish- 
ment?    Surely  Christ  needs  neither  counsel  nor  advice  in  this 
matter;  nor  would  it  be  in  the  power  of  the  saints  at  this  junc- 
ture to  give  it.      But  if  we  understand  the  judgment  to  include 
also  rule  and  authority  to   be  delegated  to  the  saints,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Christ,  then  these  things  are  perfectly  reconcile- 
able:  nor  can  a  consistent  exposition  be  given  of  Luke  xix. 
17 — 19,  in  which  one  of  the  faithful  servants  is  declared  to  be 
ruler  over  ten  cities  and  another  over  five  cities,  &c.,  but  upon 
the  principle  of  interpretation  here  advocated. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


155 


(3.)  Little  need  be  said  to  prove,  that  a  Judgment  of  this 
description  has  never  yet  appeared  amono;  the  nations.  The 
history  of  mankind  is  little  else  than  a  history  of  despotism, 
tyranny  and  oppression  on  the  one  hand,  and  which  has  often 
been  met  by  sedition  and  rebellion  on  the  other  hand.  Those 
possessing  power  have  constantly  abused  it  for  selfish  and  am- 
bitious ends;  and  the  very  men  who  have  clamoured  the  most 
loudly  against  its  exercise,  have  in  turn,  when  possessed  of  it 
themselves,  shewn  themselves  equally  incapable  of  ruling  in 
righteousness.  The  great  desideratum  with  nations  has  ever 
been  good  government;  and  it  continues  to  be  the  desire  of  all 
nations  still.  A  David  may  at  times  have  risen  up,  and  exhi- 
bited for  a  brief  space,  and  within  a  limited  sphere,  something 
like  a  feeble  and  very  defective  type  of  the  king  of  righteous- 
ness; but  the  eftect  has  been  only  to  make  the  next  generation 
of  mankind  more  keenly  sensible  of  the  general  injustice  and 
oppressiveness  of  power,  when  lodged  in  the  hands  of  apostate 
man;  and  to  cause  those  who  have  believed  in  God  to  cry — 
^'Arise,  0  God;  judge  the  earth.'^  And  in  these  latter  days, — 
in  which  we  witness  such  prodigious  efforts,  raised  up  by  the 
Lord,  toward  calling  men  into  his  heavenly  kingdom,  and  pre- 
paring them  for  his  rule  of  righteousness, — we  witness  also  a 
new  effort  made  by  man  to  rule  himself;  which  consists  in  a 
crusade  against  kings  and  those  who  are  elevated  to  rank  and 
dignity  in  the  world,  and  an  attempt  to  procure  for  the  people 
such  a  power  and  mastery  over  their  rulers,  as  that  the  former 
may  govern  the  latter,  instead  of  being  governed  by  them. 
The  experience  of  those  states,  which  have  hitherto  lived  under 
democracies,  does  not  warrant  the  expectation,  that  such  a 
means  of  regenerating  mankind  will  prove  effectual:  for  whilst 
they  have  indeed  escaped  the  rod  of  one  tyrant,  it  has  been 
only  either  to  place  themselves  under  the  despotism  of  many 
tyrants,  or  to  be  continually  torn  by  intestine  broils  and  strife. 
The  experience  of  a  neighbouring  country  (France)  evinces, 
that  the  dominion  of  the  many  in  place  of  the  few  is  like 
breaking  the  rod  of  the  serpent  onl}^  to  have  come  forth  from 
his  root  the  cockatrice,  and  his  fruit  a  fiery  flying  serpent, — 
or  (as  the  Septuagint  has  it)  broods  of  vipers.  Isaiah  xiv.  29. 

Li  this  matter  likewise,  (viz.  that  the  reign  of  righteousness 
has  not  yet  commenced,)  we  have  the  express  testimony  of  our 
Lord;  so  far,  at  least,  as  his  declining  to  take  on  himself  the 
office  of  the  judge  is  concerned.  For  not  only  did  he  withdraw, 
when  the  people  were  about  to  take  him  and  make  him  king; 
(John  vi.  15.)  but  he  refused  to  judge  in  tlic  case  of  the  woman 
taken  in  adultery;  (John  viii.  3.)  and  he  rebuked  ^another,  who 
wished  him  to  act  as  arbitrator  in  his  cause,  with, — "Man,  who 


irf    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you."  Luke  xii.  14.  And 
thou<>;h  he  asserts  most  explicitly  in  St.  John's  gospel,  "that 
the  Father  hath  committed  all  judgment  (or  sovereignty)  to 
the  Son,  that  all  men  should  honour  the  Son,  even  as  they 
honour  the  Father;"  (v.  22.)  yet  he  as  expressly  tells  Nicode- 
mus,  in  the  same  gospel,  (iii.  17.)  "that  God  sent  not  his  Son 
into  the  world  to  judge*  the  world."  That  is,  (as  I  apprehend 
it,)  he  was  deceived  in  respect  to  the  immediate  ohject  of  our 
Lord's  coming  at  that  time;  which  was  to  lay  down  his  own 
life,  a  ransom  for  many,  that  through  him  all  that  believe  might 
obtain  eternal  salvation;  and  not  to  take  to  himself  his  great 
power  and  reign. 

And  if  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  at  this  time  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many, 
still  less  is  this  the  period  when  those  who  are.  chosen  by  him 
expressly  to  be  ministers  are  appointed  judges  over  the  world. 
They  are  indeed  able  to  be  judges  among  each  other;  and  in 
that  place  of  scripture  already  adverted  to,  viz.  1  Cor.  vi.  1 — 3, 
are  rebuked  for  not  judging  their  own  matters.  But  in  regard 
to  that  judgment  which  is  the  subject  of  promise  to  them,  the 
Lord  warns  them:  "Ye  know  that  they  which  are  accounted 
to  rule  over  the  Gentiles  exercise  lordship  over  them;  and  their 
great  ones  exercise  authority  upon  them:  but  so  shall  it  not  be 
among  you."  (Mark.  i.  42.)  And  the  context  in  this  place 
will,  if  duly  considered,  serve  to  fix  the  meaning  of  Luke, 
xxii.  29,  30,  which  was  spoken  on  the  same  occasion.  In 
Mark's  Gospel  it  appears,  that  the  strife,  as  to  which  should  be 
accounted  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  originated  from  the 
request  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee  to  sit,  the  one  on  the  right 
hand  and  the  other  on  the  left  hand  of  Christ,  when  he  should 
come  in  his  glory;  which  roused  the  indignation  of  the  ten; 
and  the  Lord  put  an  end  to  it  by  admonishing  them,  that  as  he 
had  come  now  to  minister,  "and  was  among  them  as  he  that 
serveth,"  so  they  were  now  not  to  look  to  be  greater  than  their 
Lord,  but  were  to  i)e  made  partakers  of  his  sufierings.  He 
then  however  encourages  them  with  a  promise  in  regard  to  the 
future;  that  as  they  were  now  to  be  with  him  in  his  tempta- 
tions, so  they  were  hereafter  to  have  authority  and  glory;  for 
"I  appoint  unto  you,  (saith  he)  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father  liath 
appointed  unto  me;  that  ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table  in 
my  kingdom  and  sit  on  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 

*  Our  Irnnslation  is — "to  cnndann;''''  but  the  verb  is  xuvoe  which  is  to  exercise 
the  function  of  judgment,  either  to  acquit  or  condemn;  and  also  (in  various 
instances  given  in  Lexicons  I'rom  the  New  Testament,)  to  rule,  and  exercise 
authority.  The  word  KAntufivo)  is  that  generally  used  in  the  New  Testament 
when  condemnation  alone  is  intended. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    157 

Israel."  This  place  is,  by  those  who  spiritualize  (or  rather 
allegorize)  the  scriptures,  interpreted  of  the  authority  which 
the  apostles  exercised  in  the  church,  which  (they  say)  being 
the  spiritual  Israel,  is  therefore  the  twelve  tribes;  and  the 
eating  and  drinking  at  the  Lord's  table,  is  explained  of  tlie  ad- 
ministration of  tlie  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper.  But  how 
clearly  tlie  context  disproves  this,  both  in  Mark  and  Luke, — 
"Their  great  ones  exercise  authority  upon  them;  but  so  shall 
it  ?iot  be  among  you."  But,  surely,  to  sit  on  thrones  judging 
the  twelve  tribes  would  be  exercising  lordship  among  each 
other,  contrary  to  our  Lord's  direction.  So,  the  kingdom  ap- 
pointed, in  which  they  are  to  be  elevated  to  thrones,  is  evi- 
dently to  follow  the  time  of  temptation;  for  only  "if  we  suffer 
with  him,  we  shall  also  reio-n  wit li  him."  2  Tim.  ii.  12.  There- 
fore to  place  them  upon  thrones,  during  the  time  of  their  tri- 
bulation and  temptation,  is  quite  irreconcileable  with  all  that 
the  scripture  says  on  the  kingdom.  The  apostle  Paul  did  not 
account  thus;  for  he  writes  to  tiie  Thessalonians, — "We  our- 
selves glory  in  you  in  the  churches  of  God  for  your  patience 
and  faith  in  all  your  persecutions  and  tribulations  that  ye  endure; 
which  is  a  manifest  token  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God, 
that  ye  may  be  counted  worthy  of  the  Uingdom  of  God,  for 
which  ye  also  suffer."  2  Thess.  i.  4,  5.  Well  would  it  be,  for 
the  ministers  of  the  Lord  in  particular,  if  they  would  bear 
more  continually  in  mind,  that  they  are  now  to  be  servants 
and  not  rulers.  There  is  a  great  proneness,  even  in  many  ex- 
cellent and  good  men,  to  carry  themselves  as  lords,  rather  than 
ministers,  in  the  heritage  of  Christ,  and  to  assume  authority 
even  in  the  world.  But  we  must  prophesy  in  sackcloth,  and 
patiently  wait  for  the  blessed  time,  when — "Behold,  a  king 
shall  reign  in  righteousness,  and  princes  shall  rule  in  judgment;" 
(Isa.  xxxii.  I.)  when  God  v^ill  also  make  the  commonest  offi- 
cers in  his  kingdom  peace,  and  his  exactors  righteousness; — 
when  violence  shall  no  more  be  heard  in  their  land,  wasting 
nor  destruction  within  their  borders.   Isa.  Ix.  17,  IS. 

2.  There  is  another  important  feature  of  the  judgment  yet 
remains  to  be  considered,  and  that  is  tlie  vengeance  of  the  Lord 
upon  his  own  and  his  people's  enemies:  for  all  this,  and  the 
gathering  out  of  his  kingdom  every  thing  that  offends  and  does 
iniquity,  is,  in  my  apprehension  of  it,  included  in  the  judg- 
ment. The  period  of  judgment  must  consequently  compre- 
hend those  tremendous  visitations  or  vials  of  wrath,  which 
precede  the  millennium,  the  whole  time  of  the  saints  rule  on 
earth,  and  that  fmal  visitation  of  the  wicked  which  occurs  at 
the  expiration  t)f  tlie  millennium.  This  is  the  time  of  Gentile 
ascendancy:  that  the  period  (as  I  hope  hereafter  to  show)  of 


158    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

IsraeVs  domination.  This  is  the  day  of  depression  and  of  tri- 
bulation among  the  saints:  that  is  to  be  the  period  of  their 
supremacy  and  triumph. 

It  is  indeed  objected  against  such  a  view  of  the  subject,  that 
the  judgment  is  called  in  scripture  "the  day  of  the  Lord," 
"that  great  (/a?/,"  and  even  *'the  /iOi«- of  his  judgment,"  which 
expressions  are  considered  incompatible  with  its  duration 
through  upwards  of  a  thousand  years.  This  would  not  be  a 
sufficient  objection,  even  were  we  to  understand  the  terms  day 
and  hour  in  their  restricted  sense  of  a  period  of  twenty-four 
hours,  and  of  a  twenty-fourth  part  of  the  same;  for  it  is  evident 
from  the  context,  in  most  instances  where  these  expressions 
occur  relative  to  the  judgment,  that  a  particular  feature  only  of 
the  judgment  is  spoken  of — viz.  the  crisis  when  the  divine 
wrath  will  be  poured  out:  just  as  has  been  shown  in  the  former 
chapter,  the  reference  to  the  kingdom  is  sometimes  to  the  cir- 
cumstances connected  with  the  progress  of  Christianity,  and 
not  to  the  future  glory  of  the  kingdom.  And  truly  that  period, 
when  plague,  pestilence,  famine,  the  sword,  and  fire,  shall  fall 
upon  the  ungodly,  may  be  with  propriety  distinguished  as 
"that  great  day" — ^^"the  dark  and  cloudy  day," — seeing  it  is  to 
put  an  effectual  check  to  the  ungodly  tyranny  of  man,  and  to 
usher  in  a  glorious  period  of  righteousness  and  peace. 

The  expressions,  day  and  hour,  however,  have  not  that  limited 
meaning,  cither  in  the  scriptures  or  among  ourselves,  as  is  here 
attempted  to  be  imposed  upon  them.  They  are  doubtless 
used  in  the  restricted  sense  at  times;  but  this  is  readily  deter- 
mined by  the  context.  But  on  the  other  hand,  any  period  of 
time,  during  which  events  of  a  uniform  character  take  place, 
are  called  the  day  thereof.  Thus  in  Gen.  ii.  4,  the  zchole  period 
of  creation  is  called  a  day.  In  Psalm  xcv.  the  forty  years 
wandering  in  the  wilderness  is  called  "the  day  of  temptation." 
And  in  2  Cor.  vi.  2.  the  period  of  the  divine  mercy  under  the 
gospel  is  called  "the  day  of  salvation."  So  the  word  Jiuiir  has 
the  same  extensive  signification,  on  which  account  our  trans- 
lators often  render  (ag^)  it  by  the  word  seaso??,  as  in  John  v.  35. 
2  Cor.  vii.  8.  Philemon  v.  15.  In  the  first  instance  it  signi- 
fies the  whole  period  of  John  the  Baptist's  ministry;  in  the 
second,  the  time  which  elapsed  between  the  reception  by  the 
Corinthians  of  the  two  epistles  of. St.  Paul  to  them;  and  in  the 
third  instance,  the  whole  term  of  the  desertion  of  Onesimus 
from  his  master  Philemon.  In  1  John  ii.  IS.  it  is  translated 
time,  and  relates  to  the  whole  period  from  the  time  of  John  to 
the  second  advent. 

For  a  more  clai)orate  discussion,  however,  of  these  terms,  I 
must  refer   the  reader  to  AbdiePs  Essays,  page  S3;  and  here 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTEPvPRETATION.    J 59 

content  myself  with  remarking  further,  in  regard  to  the  judg- 
ment, that  if  the  seven  vials,  in  which  is  filled  up  the  wrath  of 
God,  are  a  portion  of  that  judgment,  the  description  of  one  of 
them  plainly  indicates,  that  it  cannot  take  place  in  a  period  of 
twenty-four  hours;  for  under  the  sixth  vial,  the  Euphrates  is 
dried  up,  that  the  way  of  the  kings  of  the  east  may  be  pre- 
pared; and  three  spirits  are  seen  to  go  forth  from  out  of  the 
mouths  of  the  dragon,  and  beast,  and  false  prophet,  to  the 
kings  of  the  earth  and  of  the  zi-hole  u-orhl^  to  gather  them  together 
to  the  battle  of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty."  Rev.  xvi. 
12 — 14.  Now  without  insisting  on  any  particular  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Euphrates,  the  armies  of  the  kings  of  the  whole 
world  cannot  be  gathered  together  in  one  day  of  twenty-four 
hours; — to  say  nothing  of  tlie  previous  work  of  preparation, 
here  said  to  be  eifected  by  the  spirits  of  devils  working  mi- 
racles. 

(2.)  It  only  remains  tb.erefore  for  me  now  to  instance  some 
of  the  more  striking  passages  of  scripture  which  relate  to  the 
vengeance  or  zcrath,  so  frequently  made  mention  of  as  forming 
part  of  the  judgment, 

Isaiah  xxxiv.  commences  by  solemnly  inviting  the  attention 
of  all  flesh:  "Come  near,  ye  nations,  to  hear,  and  hearken  ye 
people;  let  the  earth  hear,  and  all  that  is  therein;  the  zcorh/,  and 
all  things  that  come  forth  of  it.  For  the  indignation  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  all  nations,  and  his  fury  upon  all  their  armies: 
he  hath  utterly  destroyed  them:  he  hath  delivered  them  to  the 
slaughter.  Their  slain  also  shall  be  cast  out,  and  their  stink 
shall  come  up  out  of  their  carcasses,  and  the  mountains  shall  be 
melted  with  their  blood."  At  verse  5,  it  continues — "Behold 
it  shall  come  down  upon  Idumea,  and  upon  the  people  of  my 
curse  to  judgment.  The  word  of  the  Lord  Is  filled  zcith  blood,'' 
"for  the  Lord  hath  a  great 'sacrifice  in  Bozrah,  and  a  great 
slaughter  in  the  land  of  Idumea,  &:c. — their  land  shall  be  soaked 
with  blood,  and  their  dust  made  fat  with  fatness;  for  it  is  the  day 
of  the  Lord's  vengeance,  and  the  year  of  recompenses  for  the 
controversy  of  Zion."  Then,  after  dwelling  upon  the  manner 
in  which  the  land  shall  be  desolated,  the  prophecy  bursts  forth, 
in  the  next  chapter,  into  a  rapturous  description  of  the  way  in 
which  ihc  earth  shall  afterwards  be  renewed  for  the  righteous. 

In  the  preceding  passage  it  will  be  perceived,  that  the  judg- 
ment, therein  spoken  of,  falls  on  Idumea  (or  Edom,*)  of  which 
Bozrah  was  the  capital.  These  names,  with  other  characteris- 
tics of  the  prophecy,  serve  to  identify  and   connect  it  with 

*  Both  the  anciept  and  modern  Jews,  and  after  them,  various  Christian  ex- 
positors, interpret  Edbm  to  be  Rome.  Mr.  Scott  considers  it  a  mystical  name 
for  all  the  enemies  of  the  church. 


150  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

another  prophecy  in  chapter  Ixiii.  1 — 5,  which  informs  U3 
also,  who  is  to  be  the  great  actor  in  the  tribulation:  "Who  is 
this  that  Cometh  from  Edom,  with  dyed  garments  from  Boz- 
RAH?  this,  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel,  travailing  in  the 
•Mcatness  of  his  strength?"  (Anszcer:)  "I,  that  speak  in  righte- 
ousness, mighty  to  save."  "Wherefore  art  thou  red  in  thine 
apparel,  and  thy  garmejits  like  him  that  treadeth  the  uine-faiV^ 
(A?iS7cer:)  "I  have  trodden  the  zcitie-press  alone;  and  of  the 
people  there  was  none  with  me.  For  I  will  tread  them  in  mine 
anger,  and  trample  them  in  my  fury;  afid  iJieir  blood  shall  be 
sprinkled  t/pon  my  garments;  and  I  will  stain  all  my  raiment. 
For  the  day  of  vengeance  is  in  mine  heart,  and  the  year  of  my 

REDEEMED  is  COVie.'^ 

Those  expositors  who  have  constantly  endeavoured  to  turn 
every  thing  in  prophecy  to  the  circumstanc.es  of  our  Lord's 
first  advent,  take  advantage  here,  from  the  mention  of  its  being 
"the  year  of  the  redeemed,^'  to  apply  the  whole  to  Christ's 
shedding  his  own  blood  as  an  alo?iement  for  his  people.  The 
expressions  however  are  such  as  to  shew  that  a  very  different 
event  must  be  intended.  He  comes  in  his  ^'glorious  apparel," 
and  he  travails  in  the  "greatness  of  his  strength;"  whereas,  at 
his  first  advent,  tiiere  was  no  beauty  in  him,  and  in  his  travail 
his  soul  was  poured  out  like  water.  He  here  ''treads  the  peo- 
ple in  fury;"  then  he  Was  trodden  underfoot  of  men.  He  here 
sprinkles  his  garments  with  their  blood;  then  his  ow?i  blood 
was  poured  out  unto  death.*  Another  prophecy,  however, 
will  clearly  point  out,  by  an  identity  of  certain  leading  ex- 
pressions, to  what  event  reference  is  here  made  by  the  Spirit 
in  Isaiah. 

In  Rev.  xiv.  we  have  a  description  of  "the  vine  of  the  earthy 
which  is  cast  into  the  great  ici7ie-press  of  the  wrath  of  God;  and 
the  wine-press  is  trodden  without  the  city,  and  blood  comes  out  of 
the  wine-press  even  unto  the  horse  bridles,  by  the  space  of  a 
thousand  and  six  hundred  furlongs:"  and  in  chap.  xix.  one  is 
introduced,  "clothed  with  a  vesture  dipped  in  blood,  and  his  name 
is  called  The  Word  of  God,  &c.,  and  he  treadeth  the  wine-press 
of  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath  of  Almighty  God.  And  he  hath 
on  his  vesture  and  on  his  thigh  a  name  written,  King  of 

*  Mr.  Scoft  in  this  instance  forms  a  bright  exception  to  these  commentators, 
He  says.  "These  verses  contain  a  prophetical  representation  of  tlie  victories  of 
Christ  over  the  enemies  of  his  church;  for  of  him  the  passage  must  be  inter- 
preted, nor  can  so  much  as  an  accommodation  of  it  to  any  other  be  admitted. 
But  it  is  remarkable,  that  many  have  understood  it  of  the  sufferinjis  of  Christ, 
and  of  his  being  covered  with  his  own  blood:  though  nothing  can  be  more  evi- 
dent, than  that  he  is  represented  by  the  prophet,  as  covered  with  the  blood  of 
his  enemies,  and  as  a  mightv  Conqueror  and  Avenger,  and  not  as  a  Lamb  slain 
for  a  .sacrihce.     {See  in  Loco.) 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    KJJ 

KINGS,  AND  Lord  of  lords.  And  I  saw  an  angel  standing  in 
the  sun;  and  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the  fowls 
that  fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  Come  and  gather  yourselves  to- 
gether unto  the  supper  of  the  great  God,  that  ye  may  eat  the 
flesh  of  kings,  captains,  mighty  men,  horses,  «^'C." 

The  mention  of  the  foivls  of  heaven,  called  to  a  great  supper^ 
further  connects  this  subject  with  a  prophecy  in  Ezekicl  xxxix. 
concerning  the  destruction  of  Gog  and  Magog,  the  slaughter 
of  whose  armies  will  be  so  great  as  to  require  seven  months 
to  bury  the  dead.  At  verse  17  are  these  words:  "And  thou, 
Son  of  man,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God;  speak  unto  every  feathered 
foii'l,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field.  Assemble  yourselves 
and  come,  gather  yourselves  on  every  side  to  my  sacrifice  that 
I  do  sacrifice  for  you,  even  a  great  sacrifice  upon  the  mountains 
of  Israel,  that  ye  may  eat  Jlcsh  a?id  drink  blood.  Ye  shall  eat 
the  flesh  of  the  mighly,  and  drink  the  blood  of  the  princes  of 
the  earth; — ye  shall  be  filled  at  my  table  with  horses  and  chariots, 
with  mighty  men,  and  with  all  men  o/'ttYrr,  saith  the  Lord  God. 
And — I  will  set  my  glory  among  the  heathen,  and  all  the 
heathen  shall  see  my  judgment  that  I  have  executed,  and  my 
hand  that  I  have  laid  upon  them." 

The  wine-press,  and  mention  of  the  gathering  of  the  mighty 
ones,  &c.  connect  both  these  last  prophecies  with  Joel  9,  iii. 
14.  "Proclaim  ye  this  among  the  Gentiles:  Prepare  war, 
wake  up  the  mighty  men,  let  all  the  men  of  war  draw  near;  let 
them  come  up:  beat  your  ploughshares  into  swords,  and  your 
pruning  hooks  into  spears:  let  the  weak  say,  I  am  strong. 
Assemble  yourselves  and  come,  all  ye  heathen,  and  gather  your- 
selves together  round  about:  thither  cause  the  mighty  ones  to 
come  down,*  0  Lord.  Let  the  heathen  be  wakened,  and  come 
up  to  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat;  for  there  will  I  set  to  judge 
all  the  heathe?i  round  about*  Put  ye  in  the  sickle,  for  the  harvest 
is  ripe:  Come,  get  you  down,  for  the  press  is  full,t  the  fats 
overflow,  for  their  wickedness  is  great.  Multitudes,  multitudes, 
in  the  valley  of  decision;  for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  near  in 
the  valley  of  decision."  Such  is  the  description  of  the  prepa- 
tion  for  vengeance;  it  terminates  in  verse  17,  by  declaring; 
"then  shall  Jerusalem  be  holy,  and  there  shall  no  strangers 
pass  through  her  any  more;"  and  it  goes  on  to  describe  the 
regeneration  of  the  earth. 

1  shall  close  this  series  of  prophecies  by  a  reference  to  one 
more,  which  is  connected  with  them  by  similar  expressions 
relative  to  the  vintage,  &c.  in  Jeremiah  xxv.     Mr.  Begg  has 

♦  The  Septiia^int  renders  tliis  last  clause,  "Let  the  meek  man  be  a  warrior.'' 
t  The  harvest  and  vmlage  both  appear  combined  here,  as  in  Rev.  xiv.  14 — 2<). 
VOL.   II.  — 14 


159    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

an  interesting  exposition  of  it  in  his  'Connected  View  of  tlie 
Redeemer's  Advent,'  &c.  According  to  liim,  the  prophet  de- 
clares the  relative  order  of  a  series  of  desolating  judgments,  from 
before  the  time  of  the  publication  of  the  prophecy,  till  the  final 
destruction  of  antichrist,  under  the  figure  of  a  wi7ie-aip,  which 
the  prophet  is  directed  to  present  to  the  nations  in  succession. 
He  maintains  that  the  order  of  succession  is  designed,  not  only 
from  the  rotation  in  which  the  nations  are  mentioned,  but  from 
the  circumstance  of  the  same  nations  being  in  some  instances 
made  to  drink  tzvice,  as  in  the  case  of  Edum,  under  its  own 
name  in  v.  21,  and  under  the  name  of  Dedan  in  v.  23.  The 
names  Buz  (or  despised)  and  Zimri  (or  my  zoine,  or  my  field,)  he 
conceives  to  be  mystic  appellations  of  Israel.  The  king  of 
Sheshach,  who  is  to  drink  last,  he  infers  from  Jer.  li.  45.  to  be 
mystic  Babylon,  showing  that  though  Jeremiah  in  chap.  li. 
speaks  of  the  literal  Babylon  in  some  places,  yet  that  the  gene- 
ral terms  of  the  prophecy,  both  there  and  in  chap.  xxv.  can 
only  accord  with  the  mystic  Babylon.*  I  conceive,  however, 
that  Sheshach  cannot  mean  here  that  Babylon  which  is  repre- 
sented in  the  apocalypse  as  the  harlot,  and  which  is  destroyed 
by  the  Beast  that  wages  war  with  her;  but  rather  that  Beast, 
who  is  the  destroyer,  and  who  is  the  last  antichristian  power 


*  The  passage  in  Jeremiah  li.  41,  quoted  by  Mr.  Begg  as  explanatory  of  the 
Idn.g  of  Sheshach,  is  as  follows:  "How  is  Sheshach  taken!  and  how  is  the  praise 
of  the  whole  earth  surprised! — how  is  Babylon  become  an  astonishment  among 
the  nations."  Mr.  Bcgg  seems  to  consider  the  last  sentence  as  exegetical  of 
the  former,  in  which  opinion  I  entirely  agree  with  him,  and  should  be  satisfied 
there  to  leave  the  matter.  It  may  be  useful,  however,  to  the  reader,  as  this 
name  has  given  occasion  to  much  discussion,  to  notice  the  opinions  of  learned 
men  on  the  subject,  which  opinions  may  be  classified  under  three  heads. — 

Jerome  gives  a  cabalistic  account  of" it,  after  the  Jewish  manner,  by  substi- 
tuting other  letters,  of  equal  numerical  value,  till  out  of  them  he  makes  Babel: 
and  is  quoted  as  authority  for  this  signification  of  the  word  Sheshach,  by  many 
subsequent  writers,  who  enter  not  into  his  mode  of  deriving  it.  The  second 
class  includes  those  who  say,  (as  Mr.  Scott  does,)  '-that  it  evidently  means 
Babylon,  though  it  is  not  certain  on  what  account  it  is  so  called."  This  view 
is  not  more  satisfactory,  as  to  the  origin  of  the  term,  than  that  of  Jerome. 
The  learned  Selden  appears  to  me  to  have  given  the  true  solution,  and  is  fol- 
lowed by  Calmet  and  some  others.  He  says  that  Scsach  was  the  name  of  one 
of  the  Babylonian  deities,  in  honour  of  whom  there  was  a  feast  which  lasted 
five  days,  called  Saccca,  like  the  SaMmalia  among  the  Romans  after  Saturn. 
The  authority  he  gives  for  it  is  a  fragment  preserved  by  Athena^us,  from 
Berosus  the  Chaldean.  (See  his  work,  De  diis  Syris,  ch.  x'iii.)  Thus  the 
prophet  calls  it  in  the  first  instance  by  the  name  of"  one  of  its  tutelar  deities; 
just  as  in  chap.  i.  2.  he  calls  it  by  the  names  of  other  of  its  gods.  'Babylon  is 
taken,  Del  is  confounded,  Merodach  is  broken  in  pieces;  her  idols  are  con- 
founded, her  images  are  broken  in  pieces.'  A  writer  in  the  'Morning  Watch,' 
(vol.  iii.  p.  78.)  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  above  reference  to  Selden, 
thinks  that  the  name  Mc.sAocA,  given  to  Michael,  was  after  this  same  deity; 
which  is  probable,  if  we  compare  Daniel  i.  7.  with  Daniel  iv.  8.  by  which  it 
plainly  appears  that  Daniel  received  his  new  surname  after  the  name  of  their 
God,  Del. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    IQ^ 

destroyed  by  the  immediate  interposition  of  Christ  himself.* 
This  appears  the  more  j)robable  from  the  fact,  that  after  the 
enumeration  of  the  various  parties  who  are  to  drink  of  it  in 
succession,  the  next  parties,  and  the  last  before  Sheshach,  are 
all  the  nations  of  the  world;  which  agrees  with  the  intimation 
given  in  the  prophecies  I  have  just  cited  from  Ezekiel  and 
Joel,  of  the  vengeance  that  is  to  be  poured  out  upon  'all  the 
heathen,or  Gentile  nations.' — ''And  all  the  kings  of  the  north, 
far  and  near,  one  with  another;  a7id  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  zvhich  are  upon  the  face  of  the  earth;  and  the  king  of 
Sheshach  shall  drink  after  them."  v.  26.  This  matter,  however, 
will  come  before  us  more  particularly,  when  we  treat  of  Israel 
and  of  antichrist.  In  the  mean  while,  it  may  be  well  to  con- 
firm the  general  view  of  the  judgment  of  wrath,  set  forth  in 
the  previously-cited  prophecies,  by  a  few  other  passages  from 
the  twenty-fifth  cliapter  of  Jeremiah  now  before  us.  After 
alluding,  in  verse  2S,  to  the  refusal  of  some  to  take  the  cup, 
(which  can  be  no  other  than  tlieir  determination  to  shut  their 
eyes  to  the  coming  judgments,  and  to  cry  peace  when  a  sword 
is  coming,)  the  prophecy  continues — "For  lo,  I  begin  to 
bring  evil  on  the  citij  which  is  called  by  my  name,  and  should  ye 
be  utterly  unpunished?  Ye  shall  not  be  unpunished:  for  I  will 
call  for  a  sword  upon  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  saith  the 
Lord.  The  Lord  shall  roar  from  on  high,  and  utter  his  voice 
from  his  holy  habitation;  he  shall  mightily  roar  upon  his  habi- 
tation; (see  Joel  iii.  16.)  he  shall  give  a  shout  as  they  ih&t  tread 
the  grapes  (or  ivine-press)  against  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth. 
A  noise  shall  come  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth;  for  the  Lord 
hath  a  controversy  with  the  nations;  he  will  plead  with  all  flesh; 
he  will  give  them  that  are  wicked  to  the  sword.  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts:  Behold,  evil  shall  go  forth  from  nation  to 
nation,  and  a  great  whirlwind  shall  be  raised  up  from  the 
coasts  of  the  earth;  and  the  slain  of  the  Lord  shall  be  ^i  that 
day  from  one  end  of  the  earth,  even  unto  the  other. end  of  the 
earth,"  &c. 

The  similitude  used  in  verse  32,  of  "a  great  n-hirlwirid," 
leads  me  finally  to  observe  that  the  reader  will  frequently  find 
the  suddenness,  fierceness  and  rapidity  of  these  judgments 
couched  under  this  figure  of  a  u-hirhcind  in  the  prophets. — 
"He  shall  take  them  away  as  with  a  whirlwind,  both  living 
and  in  his  wrath.  The  righteous  shall  rejoice  when  he  seeth 
THE  vengeance:  he  shall  wash  his  feet  in  the  blood  of  the 
wicked:  so  that  a  man  shall  say,  Verily,  there  is  a  reward  for 
the  righteous;  verily,  he  is  a  God  that  judgeth  in  the  earth." 

♦  Compare  Rev.  xvii.  11 — 18,  and  xix.  11 — 21. 


1(54  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

See  Psalm  Ixviii.  9—11.   Proverbs  i.  23 — 33.    Isaiah  xvii.  12 

14;  xl.  18 — 24;  xli.  14 — 16;  Ixvi.  15,  16.    Jeremiah  xxiii. 

19,  20,  and  xxx.  23,  24;  and  especially  read  the  grand 
description  of  the  destruction  of  antichrist,  and  the  threshing  of 
the  heathen  in  anger,  who  come  out  as  a  whirlwind  to  destroy 
the  people  of  God,  contained  in  Habakkuk,  chap.  iii. 

It  belongs  to  this  portion  of  our  subject  again  to  notice,  that 
the  saints  are  apparently  to  participate  in  this  infliction  of  the 
judgment  upon  their  enemies,  as  well  as  in  the  reign  and 
dominion  of  Christ  which  follow.  Thus  David  says,  in  the 
before-quoted  passage:  "Let  the  saints  be  joyful  in  glory;  let 
them  sing  aloud  upon  their  beds.  Let  the  high  praises  of  God 
be  in  their  mouth,  and  a  two-edged  sword  in  their  hand;  to 
execute  vengeance  upon  the  heathen  and  punishment  upon  the 
people;  to  bind  their  kings  with  chains,  and  their  nobles  with 
fetters  of  iron;  to  execute  upon  them  the  judgment  nrilten.  This 
HONOUR  HAVE  ALL  HIS  SAINTS.  Praise  JQ  the  Lord."  Psalm 
cxlix.  Malachi  says  of  the  saints  in  that  day:  "Ye  shall  tread 
down  the  wicked;  for  they  shall  be  ashes  under  the  soles  of  your 
feet;"  (Mai.  iv.  3.)  and  David  again,  "that  the  righteous 
shall  wash  his  feet  in  the  blood  of  the  wicked."  Psalm  Iviii. 
10.  The  overthrow  of  the  Canaanilish  kings  by  the  Israelites 
under  Joshua,  and  their  putting  their  feet  upon  their  necks, 
&c.,  is  a  striking  type  of  this  event.  It  has  been  already 
shown  that  they  are  to  exercise  dominion:  the  promise  made 
in  Rev.  ii.  26,  27,  to  him  that  overcometh  combines  the  two 
things; — "to  him  will  I  give  power  over  the  nations:  and  he 
shall  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron;  as  the  vessels  of  a  potter 
shall  they  be  broken,  even  as  I  received  of  my  Father."  See 
also  chap.  iii.  21. 

(3.)  I  cannot  conclude  this  section  of  the  chapter  on  the 
Judgment,  without  calling  the  attention  of  the  serious  reader, 
and  more  especially  if  he  be  a  minister  of  God's  word,  to  the 
great  importance  of  maintaining  and  difiusing  correct  views  on 
this  awfully  interesting  subject.  Multitudes  of  professors  of 
religion  are  at  this  time  under  a  delusion  in  regard  to  the 
nature  of  those  events  which  are  impending  over  the  church 
of  Christ.  The  generality  are  agreed  that  a  great  crisis  is  at 
hand,  and  likewise  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  the  Millennium; 
but  the  party  just  alluded  to  are  disposed  to  think,  that  this 
period  of  prosperity  to  the  church  is  to  arrive  without  any 
previous  season  of  tribulation; — that  we  are  to  glide  into  it,  as 
it  were,  by  the  instrumentality  of  our  various  institutions  for 
evangelizing  the  heathen;  by  means  of  which  there  will  be  a 
gradually  increasing  diflusion  of  scriptural  light,  until  the 
whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  155 

the  waters  cover  the  sea.  Isaiah  xi.  9.  Among  this  class  of 
persons  are  many  who  consider  and  who  denominate  those  as 
unfounded  complainers  and  gloomy  alarmists,  who  now  lift  up 
their  voice  like  a  trumpet  in  Zion,  and  shew  the  people  their 
transgressions,  and  the  vengeance  of  God  which  they  provoke. 
They  love  those  flattering  representations  of  the  times,  which 
set  forth  only  what  is  good  and  encouraging  in  tlic  church  of 
God;  and  would  fain  persuade  themselves  that  the  spirit  of 
apostacy,  infidelity,  and  ungodliness,  is  limited  to  a  compara- 
tively small  section  of  mankind,  who  are  daily  diminishing, 
or  likelv  to  diminisl),  through  tlie  influence  of  the  increasing 
number  of  the  righteous.  I  fear  that  many  of  these  would 
have  considered  the  prophets  who  testified  of  the  coming 
wrath  in  their  days,  as  similar  complainers  and  alarmists. 
They  would  have  instanced,  as  a  set-off"  against  the  gloomy 
views  of  those  who  foretold  the  Babylonish  captivity,  the 
remarkable  revival  of  religion  in  the  days  of  king  Hezekiah, 
and  again  in  the  days  of  Josiah,*  (that  is,  had  they  lived  in 
those  days,)  and  they  would  have  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
assurance,  that  for  all  this  the  Lord's  anger  was  not  turned 
away.  2  Kings  xxiii.  26,  27.  So,  had  they  lived  in  Palestine 
in  the  period  previous  to  the  second  dispersion,  and  the  days 
of  vengeance  foretold  by  our  Lord,  it  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient, in  order  to  have  assured  themselves  it  could  not  be  at 
hand,  to  have  pointed  to  the  wonderful  spread  of  the  gospel  in 
those  days  among  the  heathen,  and  in  their  own  land  to  ''the 
greatly  multiplied  number  of  the  disciples,  and  the  great 
company  of  the  priests  who  were  obedient  to  the  faith." 
Acts  vi.  7. 

As  regards,  however,  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  which  is  the 
millennial  kingdom,  the  testimony  of  scripture  is  most  abun- 
dant to  the  fact,  that  it  is  to  be  ushered  in  by  desolating 
judgments;  and  that  the  universal  prevalence  of  religion, 
hereafter  to  be  enjoyed,  is  not  to  be  effected  by  any  increased 
impetus  given  to  the  present  means  of  evangelizing  the  nations; 
hut  by  a  stupendous  display  of  the  divine  wrath  upon  all  the 
apostate  and  ungodly. t  For  it  is  "when  t!ie  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  in  the  earth,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  will 
learn  righteousness;"  (Isaiah  xxvi.  9.)  and  though  "when  the 

*  See  the  account  of  both  revivals  in  2  Chron.  xxx;  xxxi.  and  xxxiv.  xxxv. 

+  The  reader  will  find  the  scriptural  view  to  be  taken  of  the  present  Mis- 
sionary exertions,  discussed  at  large  in  "The  Investigator  of  Prophecy,"  Vol. 
i.  p.  117:  where  it  is  shewn,  first,  that  the  effects  now  resulting  are  very 
dinerent  iVom  those  which  shall  be  produced  by  the  means  employed  at  the 
oeneral  conversion  of  the  heathen;  and,  .secondly,  that  the  object  of  the  Lord 
in  raising  up  the  present  agency,  is  to  call  out  and  complete  the  elect  remnant, 
who  are  to  be  gathered  from  the  four  winds. 
14* 


1(36  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Lord's  hand  is  lifted  up  they  will  not  see"  at  the  first,  "yet 
thev  SHALL  see;"  (v.  11.)  and  though  they  "refuse  to  take  the 
cup"  that  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  yet  shall  they  be  com- 
j)elled  "to  wring  out  the  dregs  thereof,  and  drink  them."  The 
passages  which  have  been  brought  forward  in  this  chapter  con- 
cernino-  the  Judgment,  all  give  evidence  to  the  fact  I  am  here 
asserting,  of  a  tribulation  previous  to  the  millennium;  for  the 
context  in  almost  every  instance  demonstrates,  that  the  ven- 
geance is  immediately  followed  by  a  great  manifestation  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord. 

The  Song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  sung  by  those  who  have 
obtained  the  victory  over  the  Beast,  &c,.(see  Rev.  xv. )  at  the 
time  when  the  last  vials  of  wrath  are  about  to  be  poured  out, 
and  evidently  in  anticipation  of  their  efiects,  strikingly  con- 
firms the  fact,  that  those  judgments  will  be  the  great  means  of 
leading  men  to  the  acknowledgment  and  worship  of  God,  and  . 
that  they  are  introductory  to  the  manifestation  of  his  glory, — 
"Who  shall  not  fear  thee,  0  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  ?iamel  for 
thou  only  art  holy,  for  all  7ialio?is  shall  come  and  worship  before 
thee;  for  thy  judgments  are  made  manifest."   (v.  4.) 

It  may  be  seriously  asked  therefore, — Is  the  state  of  mind 
which  looks  with  complacency  at  the  supposed  increasing  pros- 
perity of  religion,*  and  overlooks  the  corresponding  increase 
of  blasphemy,  apostacy  and  ungodliness,  the  state  best  calcu- 
lated to  profit  others  or  be  benefited  itself,  in  times  like  those 
we  live  in? 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  failing  in  our  duty  towards  the  unbe- 
lieving and  ungodly  portion  of  mankind,  who  have  had  the 
gospel  proclaimed  among  them,  but  who  have  despised  it.  On 
these  the  vengeance  will  principally,  though  perhaps  not  pri- 
marily fall.  For  the  Lord  may  probably  make  use  of  these  in 
the  first  instance  to  inflict  judgments  upon  others;  (for  they 
are  his  sicord.  Psalm  xvii.  13.)  but  when  he  is  "revealed  from 
heaven  with  his  mighty  angels,"  it  will  be  "in  flaming  fire 
taking  vengeance  on  them  tiiat  know  not  God,  and  that  obey 
not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ:"  (2  Thess.  i.  7,  8.) 
*'For  Knoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied  of  these, 
saying,  Behold  the  Lord  comcth  with  ten  thousand  [or  myriads, 
Grk.]  of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  con- 
vince all  that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their  ungodly 
deeds  which  they  have  ungodlily  committed,  and  of  all  their 
hard  speeches  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against  him." 
Judc  14,  15.      It  is  the  duty  of  all  to  call  upon  these  "to  fear 

*  See  this  point  likewise  discussed  in  The  Investigator,  in  tlie  article  referred 
to  in  the  last  note. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    1(57 

God  and  give  glory  to  Him,  for  the  hour  of  his  Judgment  is 
come;"  (Rev.  xiv.  7.)  but  more  especially  is  it  the  duty  of 
God's  ministers.  They  are  placed  as  watchmen  in  Israel  to 
discern  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  to  look  out  whether  it  be  a 
sword  coming  or  peace;  and  if  it  be  a  sn-ord  coming,  and  the 
watchman  "blow  not  the  trumpet,  and  the  people  be  not  warned; 
if  the  sword  come  and  take  away  any  person  from  among 
them,  he  is  taken  away  in  his  iniquity;  but — his  blood  will  1 
require  at  the  watchman's  hand."  Ezek.  xxxiii.  6. 

This  posture  of  mind  is  likewise  greatly  suited  to  confirm 
those  in  their  lethargy  and  supineness,  who  are  wont  to  trust 
in  the  righteousness  of  others; — who,  though  they  know  that 
they  are  not  closely  walking  with  God  themselves,  rely,  as  re- 
gards national  judgments,  on  the  persuasion,  that  there  must 
be  many  more  than  ten  righteous  persons  in  the  land  to  redeem 
it  from  the  threatened  wrath; — and  who  have  need  to  be  re- 
minded, as  respects  the  last  tribulation,  "that  though  Noah, 
Daniel,  and  Job  were  in  the  land,  as  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God, 
they  shall  deliver  neither  son  nor  daughter;  they  shall  deliver 
but  their  own  souls  by  their  righteousness."  (Ezek.  xiv.  20.) 
As  regards  England  as  a  nation,  the  following  observation  of 
Mr.  Cuninghame  appears  very  just. — "I  know  not  that  we  are 
warranted  in  expecting,  that  a?iy  of  the  nations,  which  have 
enjoyed  and  abused  the  full  light  of  the  gospel,  will  be  spared 
from  the  destruction  which  is  to  overwhelm  the  papal  Roman 
empire.  The  wicked  in  prolestant  countries,  and  particularly 
in  our  own  highly  favoured  nation,  are  much  more  inexcusable 
than  those  who  live  amid  popish  darkness  and  superstition." 
(On  the  Apoc.  3d  edit.  p.  469.) 

Again,  persons  of  this  turn  of  mind  are  likewise  helping  on 
the  delusion  of  those,  who  fancy  that  the  Christian  community 
is,  in  spiritual  things  and* in  good  works,  "rich  and  increased 
with  goods,  and  in  need  of  nothing,"  (Rev.  iii.  17.)  byt  whose 
works  are  not  perfect  before  God, — -who  strengthen  not  the 
things  that  remain  that  are  read}^  to  die,  (Ibid,  v.  2.)  and  on 
whom  the  Lord  "will  come  as  a  thief,  and  they  shall  not  know 
what  hour  he  will  come  upon  them.''  (v.  3.)  And  as  regards 
themselves,  even  though  they  be  in  the  main  partakers  of 
divine  grace,  they  are  not  likely  to  be  arming  themselves  with 
the  mind  of  Christ  for  suffering  and  self-denial.  1  Peter  iv.  1. 
The  Lord  took  great  pains  to  warn  his  disciples  of  the  suflering 
and  humiliation  which  both  he  and  they  had  first  to  undergo; 
and  this  he  commonly  did  when  they  were  disposed  to  be  lifted 
up  by  the  ])rescnt  success  of  his  gospel.  And  the  correspond- 
ing duty  of  ministers  now  is — to  lead  tlie  people  of  God  rather 
'•to  gird  up  the  loins  of  their  mind"  to  meet  a  time  of  great 


158  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

siftin"-  and  trial,  and  to  take  unto  them  the  whole  armour  of 
Godjihat  they  may  be  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and 
having  done  all  to  stand.  Ephes.  vi.  13.  And  one  of  the  most 
important  sources  of  consolation,  when  we  are  fallen  on  evil 
times,  is  "the  hope  of  the  grace  which  is  to  be  brought  to  us 
at  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ;"  (1  Peter  i.  13.)  for  which 
reason  Paul  bids  us  to  take  for  a  "helmet  the  hope  of  salva- 
tion;" and  David  exclaims,  "I  had  fainted,  unless  I  had  believed 
to  see  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  in  the  land  of  the  living."* 

3.  We  are  now  brought  to  an  interesting  point  in  the  inquiry 
concerning  the  Judgment,  viz.  what  is  to  become  of  the  truly 
righteous  during  those  fearful  desolations  which  will  come  upon 
the  earth?  The  sentiments  of  Archbishop  Usher  on  this  sub- 
ject, delivered  by  him  in  the  immediate  prospect  of  death,  are 
so  much  to  the  point,  and  so  interesting  in  themselves,  that  I 
will  here  give  them.t  This  veteran  observed:  <"The  greatest 
stroke  upon  the  Reformed  Churches  is  yet  to  come;  and  the 
time  of  the  utter  ruin  of  the  See  of  Rome,  shall  be  when  she 
thinks  herself  most  secure.'  One  presuming  to  ask  him,  what 
his  present  apprehensions  were  concerning  a  very  great  perse- 
cution, he  answered;  'that  a  very  great  persecutiofi  would  fall 
upon  all  the  Protestant  Churches  of  Europe;'  adding,  'I  tell 
you,  all  you  have  yet  seen  hath  been  but  the  beginning  of  sor- 
rows to  what  is  yet  to  c6me  upon  the  Protestant  Churches  of 
Christ,  which  will  ere  long  fall  under  a  sharper  persecution 
than  ever.  Therefore  (said  he)  look  ye  he  7iot  found  i?i  the  outer 
court,  but  a  worshipper  in  the  temple,  before  the  altar.  For 
Christ  will  measure  all  that  profess  his  name,  and  call  them- 
selves his  people;  and  the  outward  worshippers  he  will  leave 
out  to  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles.  The  oute?-  court  is  the 
formal  Christians,  whose  religion  consists  in  performing  the 
outward  duties  of  Christianity,  without  having  an  inward 
power  of  life  and  faith  uniting  them  to  Clirist;  and  these  God 
will  leave  to  be  trodden  down  and  swept  away  of  the  Gentiles. 
But  the  worshi])pers  within  the  temple,  and  before  the  altar, 
God  will  hide  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  under  the  shadow 
of  his  wings.  And  this  shall  be  one  great  difference  between 
the  last  and  all  the  other  preceding  persecutions.  For  in  the 
former,  the  most  eminent  and  spiritual  ministers  and  Christians 
did  generally  suffer  most,  and  were  most  violently  fallen  upon. 

♦  See  the  application  made  of  this  text  by  the  Council  of  Nice,  in  the  early 
part  of  thi.s  vol. 

+  They  are  taken  from  the  end  of  an  excellent  char^re,  bearing  on  these 
topics,  recently  delivered  at  the  annual  Vi.silalion  of  the  Clergy  at  Cambridge 
by  life  Archdeacon  of  Ely,  and  published  by  Hatchards  under  the  title  of  The 
Time  oj  Ike  End. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    jQg 

But  in  this  last  persecution,  these  shall  be  preserved  by  God, 
as  a  seed  to  partake  of  that  glory  wiiich  shall  immediately  fol- 
low and  come  upon  the  Church,  as  soon  as  this  storm  shall  be 
over.  For  as  it  shall  be  the  sharpest,  so  shall  it  he  the  shortest 
persecution  of  them  all,  and  shall  only  take  away  the  gross 
hypocrites  and  formal  professors;  but  the  true  spiritual  believer 
shall  be  preserved  till  the  calamity  be  over.'  " 

I  do  not  feel  called  upon  here  to  insist  on  the  correctness  of 
the  Archbishop's  interpretation  of  the  Temple  and  Outer  Court, 
&c.  of  Rev.  xi.:  the  point  which  is  chiefly  of  importance  in  it 
is,  that  he  had  concluded,  that  in  the  last  great  tribulation  true 
believers  would  be  safe,  whilst  those  who  had  only  a  name  to 
live,  together  with  the  more  manifestly  ungodly,  would  be 
overwhelmed  by  the  storm.  This  conclusion  is  evidently  de- 
rived by  the  venerable  prelate  from  tlie  testimony  of  scripture, 
which  afibrds  abundant  proof  of  the  safety  of  the  righteous. 
But  there  is  another  point  likewise  intimated  in  the  scripture 
to  which  the  archbishop  does  not  refer,  and  that  is — the  very 
critical  situation  of  some  at  that  time,  who  are  in  the  main  be- 
lievers, but  who,  owing  to  want  of  watchfulness  and  to  worldly 
conformity  and  to  negligent  walking,  will  likewise  be  over- 
taken b}^  the  whirlwind,  and  severely  punished.  St.  Paul 
clearly  alludes  to  something  of  this  kind  in  1  Cor.  iii.  12 — 15: 
"Now  if  any  man  build  upon  this  foundation  (i.  e.  Jesus  Christ) 
gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  wood,  hay,  stubble, — every  man's 
work  shall  be  made  manifest:  for  the  day  shall  declare  it, 
because  it  shall  be  revealed  by  fire,  and  the  fire  shall  try  every 
mafi's  work  of  zchat  sort  it  is.  If  any  man's  work  abide  which 
he  hath  built  thereupon,  he  shall  receive  a  reward.  If  any 
man's  work  be  burned  he  shall  suffer  loss;  but  he  himself  shall 
be  saved:  yet — so  as  by  fire." 

It  may  here  be  necessary  to  observe,  that  the  term  fre  is 
often  used  in  the  scriptures  to  signify  judgments  effected  by 
the  sxvord,  and  tribulation  and  persecution  of  various  kinds. 
There  seems  to  be  no  room  for  questioning  the  literal  nature 
of  that  conflagration  or  judgment  by  fire  described  in  2  Peter 
iii.;  and  it  appears  difficult  to  explain  the  flaming  fire  of  ven- 
geance mentioned  in  2  Thess.  i.  8,  of  any  otiier  than  of  literal 
fire.  But  there  are  other  passages  of  scripture  in  which  the 
expression  fre  appears,  with  equal  conclusiveness,  to  be  used 
in  the  figurative  sense.  For  instance,  in  Luke  xii.  49,  Jesus 
says,  "I  am  come  to  send  fire  on  the  earth,  and  what  will  I  if 
it  be  already  kindled?  But  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized 
with,  and  how  am  I  straitened  till  it  be  accomplished."  The 
parallel  plac«  to  this,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  context  of  each,  is 
Matt.  X.  34, — "I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sn-ord,"  &c., 


170  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

■  and  the  mention  of  the  baptism  in  connexion  with  it  leads  us 
to  what  John  the  Baptist  said  of  Jesus — "He  shall  baptize  you 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  zvilh  fire;  whose  fan  is  in  his  hand, 
and  he  will  thoroughly  purge  his  floor,  and  gather  his  wheat 
into  the  garner;  but  he  will  burn  itp  the  chaff'  with  unquench- 
able yZre/'  This  fire  of  purgation  serves  to  prove  and  purify 
the  people  of  God,  and  to  destroy  the  hypocrite  and  unbeliever; 
and  is  (as  I  apprehend  it)  that  baptism  which  our  Lord  warned 
the  sons  of  Zebedee  they  must  be  made  partakers  of;  at  the  same 
time  that  it  has  a  reference  to  that  day  or  crisis  of  tribulation 
mentioned  by  St.  Paul,  which  is  to  prove  every  man's  work.* 

Anotlicr  striking  instance  of  the  figurative  use  of  this  expres- 
sion is  in  Deut.  ix.  3,  where  Moses  thus  assures  the  people  of 
Israel  previous  to  their  entering  Canaan  under  Joshua, — "Un- 
derstand therefore  this  day,  that  the  Lord  thy  God  is  he  which 
goeth  over  before  thee:  as  a  consuming  ^re  he  shall  destroy 
them  (thine  enemies,)  and  he  shall  bring  them  down  before 
thy  face."  In  the  same  way  we  are  most  probably  to  under- 
stand Isaiah  iv.  4,  and  Zeph.  iii,  8. 

This  fiery  trial,  then,  or  season  of  tribulation,  will  be  appa- 
rently witnessed  by  the  righteous,  and  it  will  be  cut  short  for 
their  sakes;  but  they  will  be  saved  out  of  it.  In  what  manner 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say;  but  that  there  will  be  deliverance 
in  some  manner  or  other,  is  evident.  Thus  David  says  of  the 
righteous,  "that  in  the  floods  of  great  watersi  they  shall  not  come 
nigh  unto  him."  Psalm  xxxii.  6.  So  again — "In  the  time  of 
trouble  he  shall  hide  me  in  his  pavilion — in  the  secret  of  his 
tabernacle  he  shall  hide  me."  Psalm  xxvii.  5.  Psalm  xxxvii. 
contains  many  similar  assurances,  especially  verses  34,  38 — 40. 
"Wait  on  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  exalt  thee  to  inherit  the  land: 
when  the  wicked  are  cut  off'  thou  shalt  see  it.  The  transgres- 
sors shall  be  destroyed  together;  the  end  of  the  wicked  shall 
be  cut  off:  but  the  salvation  of  the  righteous  is  of  the  Lord,  he 
is  their  strength  in  the  time  of  trouble;  and  the  Lord  shall  help 
them  and  deliver  them,"  &c.  So  again  in  Psalm  xlv.  "God  is 
our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble;  there- 
fore will  we  not  fear,  though  the  earth  be  removed  and  though 
the  mountains  be  carried  into  the  midst  of  the  sea;  though  the 
waters  thereof  roar  and  be  troubled,  though  the  mountains  (or 
kingdoms)  shake  with  the  swelling  thereof."  Isaiah  foretels 
the  same  concerning  the  Lord's  people:  "They  shall  dwell  in 

•  The  parties  whose  work  is  proved  are  apparently  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel;  and  their  7/;or/;  seems  to  be  those  who  have  been  \e6.  hy  thevi  to  the 
right  foundatioii;  but  not  built  up  truly  and  consistentlv  in  all  the  holy  will 
and  doctrine  of  the  Lord. 

t  See  this  expression  explained  in  reference  to  tribulation,  "on  the  interpre- 
tation of  prophecy,"  page  102. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    171 

a  peaceable  habitation,  and  in  sure  chcellings,  and  in  quiet  resting 
places,  when  it  siiall  iiail  coming  down  on  the  forest,  and  the 
city  shall  be  low  in  a  low  place.  Chap,  xxxii.  18,  19.  And 
in  chap.  xxvi.  he  exhorts  them:  "Come,  my  people,  enter  thou 
into  thy  chambers,  and  shut  thy  doors  about  thee:  /aWe  thyself 
as  it  were  for  a  little  moment,  until  the  indignation  be  over- 
past. For  behold  the  Lord  cometh  out  of  his  place  to  punish 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  iniquity,"  &c.  Joel  (iii. 
16.)  after  describing  the  time  of  trouble,  adds:  "The  Lord 
shall  roar  out  of  Zion,  and  utter  his  voice  from  Jerusalem,  and 
the  earth  shall  shake;  but  the  Lord  will  be  the  hope  of  his 
people,  and  the  strength  of  the  children  of  Israel."  And  Ze- 
phaniah  ii.  3.  exhorts:  "Seek  yc  the  Lord,  all  ye  meek  of  the 
earth,  which  have  wrought  his  judgment:  seek  righteousness, 
seek  meekness: — it  may  be  ye  shall  be  hid  in  the  day  of  the 
Lord's  anger." 

These  are  some  of  the  texts  containing  direct  testimony:  if 
we  regard  the  types  of  this  crisis  of  judgment  we  arrive  at  a 
similar  conclusion.  The  deliverance  of  the  faithful  at  the  time 
of  the  floods  of  great  waters,  and  at  the  fiery  trial,  is  set  forth 
by  the  deliverance  of  Noah  at  the  flood,  and  of  Lot  at  Sodom. 
The  Exodus  from  Egypt  typifies  that  still  greater  Exodus 
which  is  to  come.  The  escape  of  the  Christians  to  Pella,  at 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem;  the  gathering  the  wheat  into  the 
barn,  previous  to  the  burning  of  the  tares;  the  reaping  the 
earth  previous  to  the  vintage  (Rev.  xiv.);  and  various  other 
places,  set  forth  the  same  event:  and  finally  it  is  intimated  in 
that  exhortation  of  our  Lord,  '■^  Watch  ye  therefore,  and  pray 
always,  that  ye  may  be  accounted  worthy  to  escape  all  these 
things  that  shall  come  to  pass,  and  to  stand  before  the  Son  of 
Man."     Luke  xxi.  3G. 

(2.)  Connected  with  tire  salvation  of  the  righteous  at  the 
time  of  these  judgments  is  another  fact;  viz.  that  there  will 
apparently  be  an  election  saved  likewise  from  out  of  the  nations 
who  are  engaged  in  the  war  of  Armageddon.  Most  of  these 
will  be  Israelites  (who  will  be  treated  of  in  the  next  chapter;) 
but  there  will  be  also  Gentiles  saved;  and  who  though  pre- 
viously unafi'ected  by  the  fear  of  God,  will  be  among  those 
"inhabitants  of  the  earth  who  will  learn  righteousness." 
Isaiah  xxvi.  9.  And  besides  these,  it  appears  that  there  will 
remain  unconverted  heathen  nations,  called  by  the  prophet 
"Tarshish,  Pul  and  Lud  that  draw  the  bow,  Tubal  and  Javan, 
and  the  isles  afar  ofl,  that  have  not  heard  the  fame  of  the  Lord, 
neither  have  seen  his  glory."  Isaiah  Ixvi.  19.  These  will 
not,  apparently,  be  immediately  involved  in  the  great  tribula- 
tion and  warfare  hitherto  considered. 


1-0  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Ao-ainst  this  view  of  the  subject  two  objections  present 
theniselves:  first,  that  the  destruction  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
world  is  represented  in  some  places  of  scripture  as  entire;  and, 
secondly,  that  the  world  is  to  be  btmil  up  at  the  coming  of  the 
Lord,  which  must  therefore  necessarily  consume  its  inhabitants 
likewise. 

In  regard  to  the  former  objection,  there  have  already  been 
l)rought  before  the  reader,  when  considering  the  principles  of 
interpreting  prophecy,  (page  105,)  certain  passages  which 
prove  that  the  term  all  is  sometimes  used  in  scripture  in  a 
restricted  sense,  as  may  be  ascertained  by  some  oiher  expres- 
sions in  the  context  which  qualify  the  word.  One  of  these 
instances  is  exactly  apposite  to  the  point  in  hand,  viz.  Isaiah 
Ixvi.  and  I  must  here  beg  leave  to  refer  to  it  again.  At  verses 
15,  16,  it  is  written,  "For  behold  the  Lord  will  come  with^re, 
and  with  his  chariots  like  awhirlwind,  to  render  his  anger  with 
fury,  and  his  rebukes  with^ames  of  fire;  for  hy  fire,  and  by  his 
sword,  will  the  Lord  plead  with  all  flesh,  and  the  slain  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  many."  Whether  the  expression  fre  is  here  to 
be  understood  literally  or  figuratively,  one  thing  is  plain,  that 
all  flesh  are  said  to  be  pleaded  with  by  it,  showing  indeed  "that 
the  fire  will  try  every  man's  work."  And  yet,  at  verse  19,  it 
is  those  that  escape  oi  them  that  the  Lord  sends  to  Pul  and  Lud, 
&c. :  thus  showing  likewise,  that  the  destruction  is  not  utter. 
To  the  above  instance  may  be  added  one  or  two  others.  In 
Isaiah  xxiv.  6.  we  read,  "Therefore  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
are  btmied,  am]— few  men  left.''  This  at  first,  speaking  as  the 
context  does  of  the  ungodliness  oi  all  the  dwellers  upon  earth, 
looks  as  if  the  whole  were  to  be  consumed;  but  the  term  few 
is  a  saving  clause.  So  in  Zechariah  xiv.  "«//  nations"  are  first 
described  as  gathered  against  Jerusalem  to  battle,  (ver.  2.) 
then  as  smitten  with  a  plague  which  consumes  them,  (ver.  12 — 
15);  but  afterwards  there  is  mention  of  every  one  that  is  left 
of  all  the  nations  that  came  against  Jerusalem.  These  exam- 
ples, with  those  already  adduced,  are,  it  is  hoped,  sufficient  to 
show  that  there  will  nevertheless  be  an  election  of  men  in  the 
flesh. 

(3.)  The  conflagration  still  remains  to  be  considered.  Some  of 
the  passages  above  cited  serve  to  throw  a  measure  of  light  upon 
it;  but  I  candidly  confess  that  it  is  to  me  one  of  those  things 
which  St.  Peter  says  are  "hard  to  be  understood."  I  want 
clear  light  upon  the  subject,  and  am  sensible  that,  in  my  own 
rase,  there  is  yet  much  scripture  relating  to  it  that  needs  to  be 
carefully  considered.  Consequently  what  I  advance  on  this 
head  is  more  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  to  the  reader  '/hat 
may  be  said  upon  the  sul)ject,  than  as  being  in  all  respects  satis- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.     173 

factory  to  my  own  mind.  It  is  then  I  think  clear,  tliat  tlierc 
is  to  be  a  literal  conflagration:  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  it 
will  be  premillennial:  for,  according  to  2  Pet.  iii.it  is  to  be  the 
means  of  renovating  the  earth,  and  producing  the  new  heavens 
and  the  new  earth,  to  be  enjoyed  during  that  period;  which 
was  the  opinion  generally  entertained  by  the  millenariaii 
fathers  and  by  the  reformers.*  It  is  nevertheless  questioned 
what  will  be  the  process  of  this  burning,  (viz.  whether  all  at 
once,  or  by  gradual  eruptions  of  volcanic  matter,)  and  to  what 
extent  it  will  take  place.  Some  have  considered  that  only  the 
city  and  immediate  territory  of  Rome  was  to  be  burned; 
among  whom  are  many  Jewish  writers,  who  ground  their 
opinion  on  Isaiah  xxxiv.  G — 10,  interpreting  Idumea  as  mys- 
tically signifying  Rome.  The  object  of  this  fiery  visitation 
however  is  evidently  very  remote  from  that  of  renewing  or 
regenerating  that  territory:  it  is  to  set  it  forth,  after  the  exam- 
ples of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  as  an  awful  memorial  to  the 
people  who  shall  dwell  in  the  flesh  during  the  millennium;  for 
which  purpose  it  is  to  lie  waste,  and  its  smoke  continually  to 
ascend.  Others  conceive  that  the  whole  of  what  they  call  the 
pj-ophetic  earth,  meaning  the  Roman  empire  in  its  utmost  limits, 
will  be  visited  with  fire.  And  others  again  think  it  is  to  be 
confined  to  the  region  of  Palestine  in  its  utmost  limits.  All 
these  different  hypotheses  seem  to  arise  from  the  difficulty  of 
conceiving  how  there  shall  be  men  and  animals  left  surviving, 
notwithstanding  the  burning; — a  difficulty  which  we  may  safely 
leave  with  our  God  to  unravel  in  due  time.  It  would  have 
been  quite  as  difficult  to  have  conceived  in  the  days  of  Noah, — 
when  navigation  was  as  yet  unknown,  and  none  had  ever  con- 
structed a  ship  or  boat, — how  men  and  animals  could  be  saved 
from  a  universal  deluge.  And  yet  the  Lord  marvellously  ac- 
complished it,  and  doubtl&ss  he  will  again  show,  that  nothing 
is  too  hard  for  him. 

4.  There  remains  one  other  point  for  consideration,  a'nd  that 
is,  the  judgment  according  tozcorks  which  will  take  place  upon  the 
righteous. 

(1.)  It  is  questionable  again  as  regards  this  matter,  where 
and  at  what  period,  this  judgment  will  take  place:  and  this  is 

*  Some  have  argued  that  the  conllnsration  cannot  be  until  the  annihilation 
of  the  world,  on  the  frround  that  the  action  of  fire  would  render  the  soil  unfit 
for  the  use  of  man.  This  is  arsruiiig  in  ignorance  of  the  real  facts  of  the  case 
even  at  present;  for  unfruitful  land  is  now  often  pared  and  burned  to  produce 
a  soil;  and  the  soil  formed  by  triturated  lava  is  excellent.  But  the  proper 
reply  to  this  objection  is,  first,  that  there  is  no  suflicient  proof  that  the  earth 
wiU  ever  be  dcslroijcd,  but  only  rcnarcd;  and  secondly,  that  Peter  declares  that 
renewal  will  be  by  the  dissolving  of  its  elements  through  fervent  heat.  There 
is  a  very  able  essay  on  this  subject  in  Dr.  Holmes's  "Jicsurrcction  Revealed." 
See  the  Appendix  to  the  revised  edition,  p.  301. 
VOL.    II. 15 


174    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

another  of  the  po'inls  which  I  feel  myself  unable  at  present  to 
treat  of  with  full  confidence.  Some  conceive  that  the  righteous 
will  be  caught  up  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air  previous  to  the 
vials  of  wrath  being  poured  out;  and  that  whilst  (here  they  will 
be  judged  according  to  their  works,  and  then  descend  with  the 
Lord.  This  period,  however,  of  their  translation  appears  to 
be  too  early  to  be  consistent  with  their  coming  out  of  the  tri- 
bulation itself;  for  t'liere  are  numerous  passages,  especially  in 
the  Psalms,  which  plainly  evince  that  the  church  passes  into 
deep  waters  in  those  days,  and  cries  to  the  Lord  from  out  of 
them.  The  opinion,  however,  does  not  seem  altogether  erro- 
neous; for  if  we  allow  that  there  are  to  be  different  stages  afid 
gradations  in  these  judgments  (as,  for  example,  those  which 
involve  the  fall  of  Babylon  and  the  cities  of  the  nations,  and 
those  which  cflcct  the  destruction  of  the  infidel  Beast,  which 
is  first  made  the  chief  instrument  of  destroying  Babylon;*) 
we  may  then  readily  understand  how  the  saints  may  be  impli- 
cated in  the  first  portion  of  them,  and  yet  be  caught  up  pre- 
vious to  the  battle  of  Armageddon.  It  is  whilst  they  are  in 
the  air  with  Christ,  that  according  to  Mr.  Cuninghame,  and 
others,  they  are  to  be  marshalled  "in  their  various  orders  and 
degrees  of  glory  and  dominion."!  Audit  is  after  this  judg- 
ment of  works,  (as  I  apprehend,)  wheresoever  it  take  place, 
that  the  saints  come  fo^th  '"with  the  praises  of  God  in  their 
mouth,  and  a  two-edged  sword  in  their  hand,  to  execute  the 
judgment  written;"  (see  page  163.)  and  they  form  most  pro- 
bably those  "armies  in  heaven,"  which,  when  Christ  comes 
forth  "in  righteousness  to  judge  and  make  rear," — "with  a  sharp 
sword  going  out  of  his  mouth,  that  with  it  he  should  smite  the 
nations," — "follow  him  upon  white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen, 
white  and  clean."  Rev.  xix.  11  — 15. 

(2.)  It  is  however  of  vast  importance  for  the  mind  of  the 
believer  to  be  persuaded,  that  he  is  himself  to  undergo  a  judg- 
ment. However  we  may  hesitate  as  to  the  where  and  when, 
we  have  no  ground  for  questioning  the  actual  fact  itself;  though 
it  has  nevertheless  come  to  pass,  that  the  fact  is  questioned, 
and  considered  by  some  to  be  at  variance  with  the  doctrines 

*  Compare  Rev.  .wii.  1-3,  13,  witli  verses  16,  17,  and  note  also  verses  20,  21, 
of  chap.  xix. 

+  If  I  correctly  understand  the  ob.-^crvations  which  Mr.  Cuninghame  has 
made  on  this  subject  in  two  or  three  places  of  his  recent  edition  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, he  considers  that  the  church  will  be  involved  in  the  tribulation,  and  yet 
be  caught  up  out  of  the  midst  of  it.  (Seepages  54, 359,  491,  and  their  context.) 
I  concur  with  him  in  the  main,  but  do  not  clearly  see  how  he  can  consider  the 
ncj-t  event  which  the  church  has  now  to  look  for  is  the  translation  of  the  saints. 
For  this  supposes  the  fiery  trial  to  the  saints  to  be  already  past;  which  I  cannot 
think  to  be  the  case,  but  rather  look  for  that  event  as  the  next  in  order  which 
is  to  befall  the  church. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    X75 

of  grace.  But  it  is  as  plainly  declared  in  the  scriptures, that  God 
will  render  to  every  mem.  accouding  to  his  deeds,  as  it  is  insisted, 
that  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  be  justified.  Both 
truths  are  declared  by  the  same  Apostle,  and  in  the  same  Epis- 
tle (Rom.  ii.  5,  G,  and  iii.  20.)  Our  Lord  tells  us,  "that  when 
the  Son  of  JNIan  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his 
angels,  then  he  shall  reward  every  man  accordi/iq  to  his  works." 
IVIalt.  xvi.  27.  He  sets  forth  a  distinction  of  reward  in  the 
parable  of  the  pounds,  where  one  of  the  faitliful  has  authority 
assigned  him  over  ten  cities,  and  another  over  five  cities;  (Luke 
xix.  17,  19)  in  which  place  there  seems  to  be  an  allusion  also 
to  the  precise  ?tatiire  of  the  respective  glory  of  the  saints, 
which  will  consist  in  dominion  and  authority  over  the  nations. 
And  the  Lord  further  distinguislies  between  a  prophet's  (or 
minister's)  reward,  and  a  righteous  man's  reward;  shewing  also 
that  it  is  possible  for  any  disciple  to  receive  both  the  one  and 
the  other;  (Matt.  x.  41)  and  that  every  thing  done  for  him, — 
even  to  the  giving  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  disciple,  because 
he  belongs  to  Christ, — shall  have  its  proportionate  reward. 
In  like  manner  St.  Paul  teaches  us,  "that  he  wiiich  sowcth 
sparingly,  shall  reap  also  sj>ari/n>h/;  and  he  which  soweth  boun- 
tifully, shall  reap  also  butnitifiilli/;"  (2  Cor.  ix.  6)  and  that 
"whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap:"  (Gal.  vi.  7) 
nothing  of  which  can  be  literally  true,  unless  there  shall  be  a 
distinction  hereafter  in  the  judgment  according  to  works:  and 
then  we  can  understand  how  a  man  may  be  continually  "lay- 
ing up  for  himself  treasure  in  heaven;"  (Matt.  vi.  20;) — why 
he  should  be  exhorted  to  be  always  ahounding  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord;  viz.  forasmuch  as  we  know  that  our  labour  is  not  in 
vain  in  the  Lord;  (1  Cor.  xv.  38) — and  why  again  we  should 
be  admonished  "to  look  to  ourselves,  that  we  lose  not  those 
things  which  we  have  wrought,  but  that,  we  receive  a  full  re- 
ward.  2  John  S. 

It  is  objected  by  some,  that  the  parable  of  the  Labourers  in 
the  ^"ineyard  is  opposed  to  this  doctrine;  who  all  receive  er/^w/ 
wages,  whether  employed  from  the  first  hour  or  the  eleventh. 
Matt.  XX.  I  apprehend  that  this  parable  chiefly  respects  the 
self-righteous  spirit  of  the  p^iarisees,  who  were  jealous,  both 
because  those  who  had  been  j)reviously  as  publicans  and  sin- 
ners, and  likewise  the  Gentiles  who  had  been  ignorant  of  God, 
were,  by  the  Gospel  of  Christ  and  the  grace  of  the  Lord,  put 
upon  the  same  level  with  themselves,  who  had  "borne  the 
burden  and  heat"  of  the  Mosaical  dispensation.  But  be  that 
as  it  may,  there  is  nothing  in  this  doclrine  whicli  really  con- 
flicts with  thaf  of  justification  by  faith.  It  will  readily  be  admit- 
ted, that  none  arc  accounted  righteous  before  God  on  account  of 


276    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

any  merits  or  works  of  their  own;  and  that  whether  they  have 
yielded  thirty  fold  or  a  hundred  fold,  all  are  equally  justified 
freely,  who  are  effectually  called  by  the  Spirit,  at  whatsoever 
period  of  life  that  call  may  have  taken  place.  It  will  also  be 
freclv  admitted,  that  the  good  works  which  they  have  wrought, 
and  all  the  fruits  of  holiness  they  have  exhibited,  are  not  strictly 
their  own,  but  are  produced  by  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  of 
God;  and  therefore  that  as  the  pon-e?-  is  his,  so  also  the  glonj; — 
yea,  it  will  be  at  once  conceded,  that  so  far  as  we  are  concern- 
ed, we  find  the  flesh  continually  hindering  and  defiling  what 
is  good,  and  our  best  righteousness  but  as  filthy  rags,  needing 
the  blood  of  sprinkling.  To  reward  those  works  therefore 
which  are  the  fruits  of  God's  power  in  us,  is  only  another  act 
of  nieraj  in  the  Lord;  which  agrees  with  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist — "God  hath  spoken  once;  twice  haye  I  heard  this; 
that  poii-er  belongetii  unto  God:  also  that  unto  thee,  0  Lord, 
belongeth  mercy; — -for  lhoure?uIerest  unto  every  ma7i  according 
to  his  work."  Psalm.  Ixii.  11,  12.  The  word  accordirig — "ac- 
cording to  his  work"  or  works,  which  occurs  in  several  other 
places  not  yet  quoted,  clearly  intimates  that  the  reward,  though 
of  mercy,  is  nevertheless  apportioned  to  the  work  wrought. 

It  matters  not,  then,  in  this  view  of  the  subject,  at  what 
period  men  are  called  by  the  grace  of  God; — whether  it  be  in 
infancy,  or  at  the  elexl^enth  hour,  both  are  accepted,  both  are 
justified,  and  that  freely,  fully,  and  equally,  through  the 
precious  blood  of  Christ,  and  they  will  condemn  every  tongue 
that  riseth  up  in  judgment  against  them.  But  do  the  self- 
denial,  and  devoted ness,  and  temper  of  the  man,  when  he  is 
called,  signify  nothing?  Is  there  to  be  no  difference  between 
him  who  has  fought  a  good  fight,  (2  Tim.  iv.  7.)  and  him  who 
is  ^'scarcely  saved,  so  as  by  fire?" — between  the  man  who 
builds  upon  the  only  foundation,  ''gold,  silver,  precious  stones, 
and  him  who  builds  wood,  hay,  stubble?"  Yes:  we  are  assur- 
ed, as  before  noticed,  that  though  the  latter  be  saved  "he 
shall  suffer  Ions,"  (1  Cor.  iii.  15.)  whereas  the  former  will 
"receive  a  reward;"  (ver.  14.)  which  statement  appears  to  me 
incapable  of  rational  explanation,  except  on  the  princij)le  that 
some  shall  be  great,  and  some  least  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Matt.  V.  19. 

(o.)  The  maivKr  in  which  this  part  of  the  judgment  will  be 
conducted  comes  next  under  consideration.  I  conceive  from 
what  St.  Paul  says  of  "the  day  that  is  to  try  every  thing  by 
fire,"  which  we  have  seen  has  reference  to  the  period  of  tribu- 
lation, that  many  a  "prophet"  will  suffer  loss  at  that  time,  by 
many  of  his  flock,  in  whom  he  has  gloried,  not  being  armed 
with  the  mind  of  Christ  to  endure  suffering,  and  therelore  not 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    177 

really  possessing  the  Spiril  of  Christ;  (see  Rom.  viii.  9.)  so 
that  when  affliction  or  persecution  arisetli  for  the  word's  sake, 
they  are  proved  to  have  no  root  in  themselves,  and  immedi- 
ately they  are  ofl'ended.  ^Nlark  iv.  17.  And  this  renders  it  a 
matter  of  such  great  importance  to  the  77ihiislers  of  God,  that 
they  should,  as  before  observed,  endeavour  to  prepare  their 
hearers  to  be  partakers  of  the  siifferirigs  of  Christ,  knowing 
"that  if  we  suffer  with  him  we  shall  also  reign  with  him;  if 
we  deny  him  he  also  will  deny  us,  (2  Tim,  ii.  12.)  They 
cannot  be  wrong  in  taking  to  them  the  whole  armour  of  God, 
and  preparing  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  even  though  no 
evil  day  overtake  them; — they  cannot  err  in  xcatching  for 
Christ;  for  whether  he  come  in  the  second  watch,  or  come  in 
the  third  watch,  and  find  them  so,  blessed  are  those  servants." 
Luke  xii.  3S.  But,  if  they  should  be  found  7iot  watching,  and 
vTiprepared,  for  the  evil  da}',  then  they  may  perhaps  fall  away 
altogetlier; — their  minister  will  certainly  suficr  loss; — and 
well  for  him  after  all  will  it  be.  if  tlieir  blood  be  not  laid  at  his 
door! 

But  it  may  be  that  they  also  may  be  saved,  yet  so  as  by  fire; 
for  ''many  shall  also  be  purified,  and  made  white  and  tried," 
&c.  (Dan.  xii.  10.) — being  overtaken  by  the  affliction  in  differ- 
ent degrees;  so  that  by  their  portion  of  sufiering,  their  works 
will  be  in  some  degree  made  manifest.  The  warnings  and 
threatenings  delivered  to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  if 
viewed  as  referring  to  the  crisis  of  trouble  (see  page  90.)  are 
remarkable  in  this  point  of  view.*  Some  are-  to  be  tried  by 
tribulation  only  ten  days,  (Rev.  ii.  10.)  Some  are  to  be  cast 
into  great  tril)ulation  except  they  repent,  (ver.  22.)  by  which 
means,  saith  the  Lord,  "all  the  churches  shall  know  that  I  am 
he  which  searchelh  tlie  reins  and  hearts;  and  I  will  give  unto 
every  one  of  you  accordisc  to  your  works;"  And  some  he 
threatens,  that  because  they  do  not  watch,  he  will  come  upon 
them  "as  a  thief,  and  they  shall  not  know  what  hour  he  will 
come  upon  them."  Rev.  iii.  3.  On  the  other  hand  the  Lord 
promises  to  some,  that  he  will  "put  on  them  no  other  burden" 
than  that  they  have  experienced,  (Rev.  ii.  24.)  and  to  others, 
that  he  will  keep  them  from  the  hour  of  temptation,  which 
shall  come  upon  all  the  world  to  try  them  that  dwell  on  the 

*  Whatever  prophetical  reference  or  accommodation  to  intermediate  pe- 
riods may  he  made  of  Rer.  ii.  and  iii.  (which  lam  not  goingto dispute,)  [con- 
ceive that  the  messages  to  the  seven  cluirches  of  Asia  are  specially  intended 
to  .set  forth  the  circumstances  of  the  whole  professing  Church  of  Christ  in  the 
last  day.s,  which,  in  its  different  sections,  denominations,  and  classes  of  pro- 
fessors, will  assume  all  the  different  aspects  therein  described;  and  that  the 
admonitions  aifd  projniscs  conlained  in  the  messages  to  them,  are  especially 
intended  for  the  benefit  and  direction  of  believers,  in  those  days. 
15* 


178  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

earth,  (Rev.  iii.  10.)  These  judge  themselves,  and  therefore 
escape  being  judged  of  God.    1  Cor.  xi.  31. 

It  is  manifest,  however,  that  the  preceding  rule  of  judgment 
cannot  apply  to  thousands  whose  lot  has  fallen  in  times  of 
quiet  to  the  church,  and  who  nevertheless  have  not  brought 
forth  fruit  abundantly,  and  have  been  supine  and  lukewarm, 
not  to  say  carnal  in  spirit.  And  though  it  might  determine, 
in  regard  to  those  living  in  times  of  tribulation,  the  measure 
in  which  they  miglit  receive  chastening,  or  be  exempted  from 
it,  it  would  be  quite  inadequate  as  a  rule  for  determining  the 
measure  of  reward.  This  can  only  be  done  (so  far  as  I  can 
perceive)  "in  the  day  when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men 
by  Jesus  Clirist:"  (Rom,  ii.  16.)  for  then  "he  will  both  bring 
to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness," — those  actions  which 
though  perpetrated  in  secret,  have  not  escaped  his  all-seeing 
eye;  and  then  will  He  "make  manifest  the  'counsels  of  the 
hearts," — those  inward  motives  and  principles  which  have  led 
men  to  perform  various  actions;  yea,  those  inward  workings 
of  sin,  probably,  which  have  been  habili/ally  entertained, 
though  the  actual  commission  of  the  sin  has  been  prevented. 

1  Cor.  iv.  5.  The  apostle  plainly  declares  this  in  other  scrip- 
tures, and  includes  himself  as  one,  who  expected  to  have  the 
secrets  of  his  own  heart  made  manifest.  To  the  Romans  he 
declares — ^^fVe  shall  all^  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ;"  and  in  the  two  following  verses  he  takes  occasion, 
from  the  scripture  which  saith,  "Every  knee  shall  bow  to  me, 
and  every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God,"  to  conclude — "So 
then,  everij  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  unto  God!" 
Rom.  xiv.  10 — 12.  To  the  Corinthians  also  he  declares,  that 
he  labours  continually  to  be  accepted  of  God,  from  a  convic- 
tion, that  "tre  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment  seat  of 
Christ;  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  his 
body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  good  or  bad.'' 

2  Cor.  V.  9,  10.  And  thus  in  Jeremiah  it  is  declared;  I  the 
Lord  search  the  heart,  I  try  the  reins,  even  to  give  to  every 
MAN  according  to  his  ways,  and  according  to  the  fruit  of  his 
doings."  Jer.  xvii.  10.  And  Solomon  saith,  "that  God  shall 
hv'mgcvery  n-ork  into  judgment,  with  every  secret  thing,  whether 
it  behoof/,  or  whether  it  be  evil."  Eccles.  xii.  14. 

It  is  also  urged  against  this  view  of  the  subject,  that  it  is 
incompatible  with  the  future  happiness  of  God's  people  to 
have  the  secrets  of  their  hearts  exposed;  and  that  it  is  written: 
"Who  shall  lay  any  thing  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect? — it  is 
God  that  justifieth."  Rom.  viii.  33.  Yes — it  is  God  that 
jnstifu'th:  or  they  must  altogether  perish  from  his  presence, 
lie  will  suffer  none  to  condemn  them  if  he  has  previously  jus- 


tified  Ihcni  in  the  Sj)irit;  (1  Cor.  vi.  11.)  but  it  must  never- 
theless be  remembered,  that  only  those  who  are  walking  after 
the  Spirit  have  the  assurance  that  tliey  are  delivered  from 
condemnation.  Rom.  viii.  1.  "Without  holiness  no  man 
shall  sec  the  Lord;"  (Ileb.  xii.  14.)  and  well  would  it  be  for 
multitudes  of  heartless  worldly  professors,  who  are  evangeliz- 
ed in  head  and  not  sanctified  in  spirit,  did  they  only  keep  in 
view  that  they  must  give  account  to  a  holy  and  jealous  God, 
who  searcheth  the  heart  and  trieth  the  reins,  and  that  '*for 
every  idle  word  which  men  shall  speak,  of  the  same  shall  they 
give  account  in  the  day  of  judgment."     JVIatt.  xii.  36. 

In  regard  however  to  tlie  ultimate  hapjmiess  of  the  saints,  I 
conceive  that  they  themselves,  when  delivered  from  their 
present  infirmities  and  prejudices,  will  have  so  clear  a  view  of 
the  manifestation  of  the  holiness  and  glory  of  God  in  all  he 
docs,  that  they  will  with  humility  and  cheerfulness  acquiesce 
in  tiie  reward,  though  they  themselves  may  suffer  loss,  and 
begin  with  shame  to  take  the  lowest  place.  And  it  may  be 
asked,  n-ho  and  ichul  is  the  very  best  Christian  of  the  present 
day,  that  he  should  hope  to  enjoy  an  immunity,  which  neither 
prophets  nor  apostles  have  enjoyed  before  him?  The  failings 
of  Abraham,  Closes,  David  and  others  have  been  published 
through  the  world,  and  made  notorious  as  the  noon-day  sun; 
and  Peter's  denial  of  his  master  is  as  universally  known  as  the 
gospel  which  contains  the  account  of  it.  Who  then  are  we, 
that  we  should  expect  exemption?  But  the  secrets  of  the 
heart  cannot  be  hid;  for  at  that  time  "we  shall  know  even  as 
we  are  known."  1  Cor.  xiii.  12.  And  indeed  were  there  no 
direct  exposure  of  the  secret  deeds  and  thoughts  of  men  in 
that  day; — were  the  Lord  only  silently  to  distinguish  among 
us  and  divide  us;  yet  that  very  distinction  itself  would,  in 
effect,  amount  to  the  same  thing.  We  could  not  help  conclud- 
ing of  him,  who  would  be  made  to  take  a  lower  place  than 
man's  judgment  would  assign  him,  that  there  was  some  reason 
for  it,  though  secret  to  us;  only  we  should  be  left,  in  that  case, 
to  the  darkness  of  surmise.  But  the  Lord  will  choose  "to  be 
justified  when  he  speaks,  and  clear  when  he  judges."  Psalm 
li.  4.  Thus,  then,  some  men's  sins  are  open  beforehand, 
going  beforehand  to  judgment:  and  some  they  follow  after. 
Likewise  the  good  works  of  some  are  manifest  beforehand; 
and  they  that  are  otherwise  cannot  be  hid.      1  Tim.  v.  24,  25. 

We  may  well  therefore  exclaim,  "What  manner  of  persons 
ought  we  to  be,  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness!" 
Greatly  to  be  considered  is  that  exhortation  of  St.  John:  "And 
now  little  children  abide  in  him,  that  when  he  shall  appear, 
we  may  have  confidence,  and  not  be  ashamed  hQiovc  him,  at  his 


180   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

comiii"-."  1  John  ii.  2S.  If  however  we  do  abide  in  him,  and 
his  word  abides  in  us,  we  need  not  fear  as  to  the  result:  it  is 
our  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  us  the  kingdom;  and 
through  grace  he  will  "present  us  holy,  and  unblameable,  and 
unreproveable'^  in  his  sight,"    Col.  i.  23. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    RESTORATION  OF  ISRAEL,  AND  THE  NEW  JERUSALEM 
DISPENSATION. 

It  has  in  these  latter  days  been  made  a  qliestion,  whether 
the  posterity  of  Abraham,  according  to  the  flesh,  shall  be  re- 
stored in  tlieir  national  character,  as  Jews  or  Israelites,  to  the 
land  of  their  forefathers;  or  whether  the  numerous  promises 
of  Scripture,  which  have  given  rise  to  such  an  expectation,  are 
not  rather  to  be  understood  in  a  mystical  sense,  as  having  re- 
ference only  to  their  ultimate  conversion  to  the  Christian 
faith,  and  their  absorption  into  the  Gentile  Church.  I  view  it 
as  a  modern  question,t  because  with  scarcely  any  exception 
the  eminent  fathers  and  expositors  of  the  church  have  inter- 
preted these  promises  as  having  respect  to  a  literal  or  national 
restoration;  and  it  was  not  till  men,  who  v\'ere  prejudiced 
against  the  millenarian  principle  of  interpreting  prophecy, 
came  to  see  how  the  doctrine  of  a  literal  restoration  could  be 
successfully  pressed  against  their  views,  that  they  apj)lied  their 
learning  and  ingenuity  to  the  task  of  spinlitalizifig,  or  rather 
allegorizifi^,  those  passages  of  the  word  of  God  which  in  this 
respect  conflict  with  their  opinions. 

Something  has  been  already  said  upon  this  subject  at  pages 
G3  and  G4  of  this  work;  and  a  variety  of  ancient  authors^'are 
there  cited  who  have  maintained  in  all  ages  the  hope  of  a  na- 
tional restoration,  though  in  other  matters  they  had  departed 
from  the  literal  principle  of  exposition.  It  were  easy  to  add 
to  their  number;  but  I  shall  content  myself  with  bringing  for- 
ward the  testimony  of  Dr.  Whitby,  whose  evidence  on  this 
head,  as  he  was  opposed  to  the  millenarian  system,  is  the  less 

*  In  Dr.  Snycr  Rudd's  Essay  on  the  Millonninm,  piiMishcd  in  1731,  lie 
enilca\ours  tobhevv  that  many  of  llie  sauus  will  be  rebuked,  at  the  LorJ'.s 
coniiii<;. 

t  Paul  Riirgcnsis  denied  their  actual  restoration.  See  Addit.  to  Nic  de 
Lyra  on  Dent.  27  and  Levitic.  2G. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  IgJ 

open  to  suspicion.  On  Romans  xi.,  speaking  of  the  liope  of 
the  conversion  and  restoration  of  the  Jews,  he  says,  "It  hath 
been  the  constant  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  owned  by 
the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers,  and  by  all  commeatators  I  have 
met  with  on  this  phice."* 

The  bearing  of  this  subject  upon  the  wliole  word  of  God, 
involving  as  it  does  tlie  principle  of  interpretation  by  which  the 
meaning  of  other  important  topics  is  to  be  ascertained,  gives 
it  a.  claim  to  the  very  serious  regard  of  all  who  humbly  desire 
to  understand  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  For  it  is  obvious, 
that  unless  some  very  decided  and  undeniable  canon  can  be 
adduced  for  a  contrary  principle  of  expounding  certain  passages, 
common  sense  and  common  consistency  will  lead  us  to  con- 
clude, that  the  same  analogy  prevails  throughout. 

Besides  this  however,  the  question  becomes  of  great  interest 
and  importance  from  the  manner  in  which  many  other  pro- 
phetical events  are  interwoven  or  connected  with  the  restora- 
tion of  Israel.  The  careful  investigator  of  prophecy  will 
discover  that  it  has  a  bearing  upon  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  the 
Judgment,  the  Resurrection,  tlie  Advent,  and  the  future  glory 
of  tlie  Church;  and  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  be  decided 
as  to  the  nature  of  that  restoration  promised  to  Israel,  before 
we  can  with  any  degree  of  confidence  determine  the  real 
character  of  these  events,  or  come  to  any  satisfactory  conclusion 
as  to  the  times  and  seasons.  Into  the  principle  points  there- 
fore connected  with  this  question  we  must  now  inquire. 

1.  Two  things  have  been  already  brought  forward  in  this 
work,  which  to  my  own  mind  would  be  decisive  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  one  is,  that  the  land  of  Palestine  has  been  cove- 
nanted by  the  Lord  to  the  patriarchs  and  to  their  posterity,  to 
an  extent  and  under  circumstances  far  beyond  anything  which 
has  been  hitherto  experienced;  and  we  know  ''that  the  gifts 
and  calling  of  God  are  without  repentance,"  or  change  of  pur- 
pose,— a  declaration  made  by  the  apostle  with  express  reference 
to  the  question  of  Jewish  restoration.  Rom.  xi.  29.  The 
other  is,  that  those  things  which  have  been  predicted  concern- 
ing the  chastisement  and  suflerings  of  Israel,  and  also  concern- 
ing some  of  {he  ffood  things  which  the  Lord  hath  spoken  con- 
cerning them,  have  been  most  literally  accomplished;  and  we 
are  consequently  bound  to  conclude,  (without,  as  just  observed, 
there  be  decided  evidence  to  the  contrary  in  the  text,)  that  the 

*  The  reader  who  is  fond  of  aulhorilics  may  nevertheless  add  to  those  men- 
tioned at  page  Gl,  the  names  of  Cyril,  Gennadius,  Haymo,  Origcn,  Photius, 
Primasius,  Theodoret  and  Theophylact.  Even  such  men  as  Erasmus  held 
this  opinion.  Sp  also  Poole,  Guyse,  Locke,  and  Samuel  Clarke.  And  among 
writers  of  the  present  age,  opposed  to  the  prcmillennial  advent,  there  may  be 
instanced  Doddridge,  Faber,  Scott,  Simeon,  (5Lc. 


X82  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

blessings  still  in  reserve  for  them,  when  their  warfare  shall  be 
accomplished,  will  have  a  similar  literal  fulfilment."* 

The  first  sight  of  the  matter  would  indeed  seem  to  indicate, 
that  some  of  the  blessings  promised  to  Israel  must  have  respect 
to  them  especially  in  their  national  character;  "and  which,  (as 
JNIr.  Begg  has  justly  observed,!)  from  their  very  nature  can  by 
no  means  be  applied  to  any  Gentile  race.  For  example,  how 
can  all  those  allusions  in  the  promises  to  a  gathering  andrehirfi 
from  a  previous  ejectment  and  scaiieriiig  among  the  nations 
refer  to  Gentiles?  What  again  have  the  allusions  to  the  two 
kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Epliraim, — to  their  re-establishment 
and  final  incorporation, — to  do  with  the  concerns  of  the  Gen- 
tile church?±  And  how  can  promises,  which  respect  the  future 
extension  of  their  territory,  and  the  exact  specification  of  its 
limits  and  boundaries  and  divisions  and  allotmenfs,  be  applied  to 
any  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  the  supernal  heaven,  without 
losing  sight  of  those  very  details  on  which  the  correctness  of 
an  intei'pretation  principally  depend? 

Some  writers  however  have  concluded,  that  the  promises  of 
national  restoration  to  the  Jews  were  fulfilled  at  the  time  of 
their  return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity,  when  the  city  was 
rebuilt  and  the  second  temple  erected.  It  is  not  denied  that  a 
portion  of  Israel  did  then  return  to  the  land  of  their  fathers; 
but  an  examination  of  some  of  the  texts  bearing  on  this  subject 
will  demonstrate,  that  certain  circumstances  in  those  prophe- 
cies received  no  accomplishment  at  all  at  that  period; — that 
those  particulars,  which  are  pointed  to  as  fulfilled,  were  only 
very  inadequately  fulfilled,  v/hen  compared  with  the  terms  of 
the  prophecy; — and  that  the  events  which  followed  that  resto- 
ration do  not  at  all  correspond  with  those  which  it  is  predicted 
shall  accompany  or  immediately  ensue  on  the  restoration  here 
contended  for,  as  yet  to  come  to  pass. 

(L)  Tiie  first  to  which  attention  is  requested  is  Deut.  xxx. 
Mr.  Begg,  in  the  work  before  noticed,  says  on  this  chapter; — 
"The  prediction  is  most  extensive.  It  embraces  the  whole 
period  of  Israel's  history  till  tlie  present  and  future  times," 
&c.  The  Babylonish  captivity  is  not  however  overlooked.  It 
is  foretold  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  remarkable  prophetic 
narrative  in  terms  sufliciently  distinctive:  "The  Lord  shall 
bring  thee  and  thi/  king,  which  thou  shalt  set  over  thee,  unto  a 

*  The  reader  is  requested  to  refer  bnck  to  page  99. 

t  See  his  "Connected  View,  &c.  of  the  Redeemer's  Advent,"  p.  27. 

t  Some  modern  expositors  have  indeed  discovered  that  the  two  tribes  are  a 
type  of  established  churclies;  and  the /c/i  tribes  of  the  dissenting  congregations. 
We  apprehend  the  Dissenters  themselves  will  never  assent  to  a  general  appli- 
cation of  this  interpretation;  for  the  Vohinlary  Principle  discussion  might  iix 
that  case  very  soon  be  settled. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    ^§3 

nation  wliich  neither  thou  nor  thy  fathers  liave  known." 
(xxviii.  36.)  This  tlien  clearly  refers  to  that  captivity  when, 
"in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim  king  of  Judah, 
came  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  unto  Jerusalem  and 
besieged  it;  and  the  Lord  gave  Jehoiakim,  king  of  Judah,  into 
his  hand."  Dan.  i.  1,  2.  2  Chronicles  xxxvi.  G.  2  Kings  xxiv. 
14,  &c.  This  part  of  the  prediction  had  at  that  time  its  com- 
plete fulfilment;  while  it  cannot  at  all  apply  to  the  captivity 
which  afterwards  followed  their  overtlirow  by  the  Romans; 
for  they  had  then  no  king  to  be  carried  captive. 

But  we  have  also  another  distinctive  mark  by  which  the 
prediction  in  the  above  verse  is  fixed  to  the  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity, and  by  which  it  is  also  rendered  inapplicable  to  that 
which  they  afterwards  suffered.  They,  together  with  their 
king,  were  at  this  time  to  be  carried  only  into  "a  nation;" 
while  the  restoration  promised  in  the  conclusion  of  the  predic- 
tion must  refer  to  their  subsequent  dispersion,  which  is  after- 
wards predicted,  (xxviii.  G4.)  For  it  is  a  restoration  ''from 
all  the  nations," — "from  the  utmost  parts  of  heaven,  (p.  29.) 
See  also  Jeremiah  xvi.  11,  15.  to  the  same  purpose. 

I  would  further  observe,  that  the  expression  "if  a?i7/ of  thine 
be  driven  out  unto  the  outmost  parts  of  heaven,  from  thejice  will 
the  Lord  thy  God  gather  thee,  and  from  thence  will  he  fetch 
thee,"  &.C.  implies  that  the  return  will  not  be  of  a  part  of  Is- 
rael, but  of  all; — not  one  will  be  left  behind.  It  is  not,  by  any 
commentator  that  I  know  of,  asserted,  that  the  whole  of  Israel 
returned  after  the  Babylonish  captivity:  they  only  contend  for 
apart;  but  insist  that  that  part  may  be  considered  as  sufiicient 
to  justify  its  being  viewed  as  the  whole  nation,  forasmuch  as 
the  rest  might  have  returned  if  they  would.  See  also  Isaiah 
xliii.  5 — 7,  where  cveri/  one  of  his,  the  Lord's  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, are  to  be  brought  frOm  far,  and  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

But,  farther  than  this,  it  is  said,  that  after  the  return,  spoken 
of  in  this  propliecy,  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  the  Lord  "will 
do  them  good,  and  mullipbi  them  above  thy  fathers."  On  this 
subject  jNlr.  Hirschfield,  missionary  to  the  Jews,  says* — "The 
Jews  never  afterwards  became  so  numerous  as  they  had  been 
under  David  and  Solomon;  though  in  the  restoration  they  were 
to  be  "multiplied  above  their  fathers."  In  connection  with 
this  passage,  and  in  reference  to  the  great  increase  of  the  Jewish 
people,  consider  the  language  of  Ilosea  i.  10,  11. — "The  num- 
ber of  the  children  of  Israel   shall  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea, 


♦  See  his  '-Strictures  on  the  past  History  and  future  prospects  of  the  Jews." 
page  31. 


184    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTEP.PRETATION. 

which  cannot  be  measured  nor  numbered,"  "  &c.  To  which 
place  may  be  added  Isaiah  xlix.  20. — "The  children  which 
thou  shall  have,  after  thou  hast  lost  the  other,  shall  say  again  in 
thine  ears,  The  place  is  too  slrait  for  me:  give  place  to  me  that 
I  mail  dzcell.'^ — And  see  likewise  Jeremiah  xxxiii.  22. 

Mr.  Hirschfeld  further  notices  the  sixth  verse  of  this  pro- 
phecy, where  it  is  -said — "And  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  circum- 
cise thine  heart,  and  the  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  that  thou  mayest 
live;"  and  remarks  on  it,  that  this  circumcision  of  heart  was 
certainly  no  characteristic  of  the  nation  in  Stephen's  time, 
since  he  addresses  them:  "Ye  stiff-necked  and  uncirciimcised  in 
heart  and  ears,  ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost."  Acts 
vii.  5L 

The  next  prophecy  which  I  shall  note  is  Lsaiah  xi.  11 — 16. 
The  former  verses  are  allowed  to  be  descriptive  of  the  millen- 
7iiian,  or  at  least  of  the  period  of  the  glorious  rest  of  the 
church,  when  "the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,"  &c.  (v.  6.) 
"and  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as 
the  waters  cover  the  sea;"  (verse  9.)  a  period  which  certainly 
has  never  yet  been  witnessed.  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in 
that  day,  that  the  Lord  shall  set  his  hand  again  the  second 
TIME,  to  recover  the  remnant  of  his  people  which  shall  be  left, 
from  Assyria,  Egypt,'  Pathros,  Cush,  Elam,  Shinar,  Hamath, 
&c.  and  from  the  islands  of  the  sea;''"'  and  he  shall  set  up  an 
ensign  for  the  nations,  and  shall  assemble  the  outcasts  of  Israel 
and  the  dispersed  of  Judah  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth, 
&c." — "And  the  Lord  shall  utterly  destroy  the  tongue  of  the 
Egyptian  sea;  and  with  his  mighty  wind  shall  he  shake  his 
hand  over  the  river,  and  shall  smite  it  in  the  seveii  streams,  and 
make  men  go  over  dryshod.  And  there  shall  be  an  highway 
for  the  remnant  of  his  people,  which  shall  be  left  from  Assyria; 
like  as  it  -was  to  Israel  in  the  day  that  he  came  up  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt."  In  this  remarkable  passage  I  need  only  briefly 
point  to  two  circumstances,  which  the  words  marked  in  italics 
and  capitals  will  have  already  prepared  tlie  reader  for.  First, 
we  can  entertain  no  reasonable  question  whether  the  return 
from  Babylon  be  meant:  that  was  only  the  first  time  the  Lord 
set  his  hand  to  recover  his  people;  whereas  this  is  expressly 
stated  to  be  "the  second  time."  Secondly,  it  is  attended  by  a 
miraculous  drying  up  of  the  streams  of  the  Egyptian  river  and 
sea  by  a  mighty  wind;t  and  that  we  may  not  hesitate  as  to  its 
literality,  we  are  assured  that  it  is  to  be  in  like  manner  that  the 
same  sea  and  the  river  Jordan  were  dried  up  when  the  people 

*  Mr.  Scott  says — "All  the  regions  separated  front  Asia  are  generally  meant; 
and  here  the  British  isles  are  included." 
t  A  similar  prophecy  is  contained  in  Isaiah  xxvii.  12. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    Ig5 

came  out  of  Egypt.  Mr.  Scott  says  on  this  place — "I  presume 
not  to  prophesy  from  the  prophecies;  but  the  lilcrul  restoration 
both  of  Israel  and  Judah  is  clearly  predicted," 

In  Jeremiah  xxiii.  1 — S,  there  is  a  propiiecy  in  which  men- 
tion is  made  of  a  gathering  of  the  flock  of  the  Lord,  &c.,  from 
the  norlh  country,  and  from  all  counlries  whither  they  were 
driven,  (v.  5,  8.)  They  are  assured  that  they  shall  "/ear  ;jo 
more'^  but  Israel  and  Judah  shall  dwell  sa/e/y."  (v.  4,  G,)  and 
this  particular  restoration  and  salvation  is  to  be  accompanied 
by  a  manifestation  to  tlicm  of  the  Redeemer — the  "Righteous 
liRANCii,"  who  shall  reign  and  prosper,  (v.  5.)  A  writer  in  the 
Investigator  of  Prophecy  (vol.  iv.  p.  225.)  pertinently  observes, 
that  to  get  rid  of  tiie  force  of  this  prophecy  with  reference  to 
io  a  future  literal  restoration  of  Israel  it  must  be  shewn  that 
the  BRANCH  was  manifested  to  Israel  and  Judah,  at  the  time  of 
the  return  from  Babylon;  and  that  that  return  was  from  the 
norlh  country  and  from  all  otiier  countries,  whither  they  have 
been  driven.  If  this  cannot  be  done  it  must  be  shewn,  that  in 
the  time  of  Christ,  when  the  Branch  did  appear,  there  was  a 
return  from  captivity  of  the  character  above  mentioned;  that 
the  Branch  then  ^'reigned"  over  the  house  of  Israel;  and  that 
Israel  continued  from  that  time  to  dwell  safely  and  in  their  ori'w 
land. 

Another  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  (chap,  xxxi.)  may  next  be 
appealed  to.  lie  prophesietl  just  when  they  were  filling  up 
that  measure  of  their  iniquity  which  brought  upon  them  wrath 
to  the  uttermost,  and  lived  into  the  period  of  the  Babylonish 
captivity  itself.  At  verses  5,  G,  however  he  says:  "Thou 
shalt  yet  plant  vines  upon  the  mountains  of  Samai-ia:  the 
planters  shall  plant  and  sliall  eat  thejn  as  common  things. 
For  there  shall  be  a  day  that  tiie  watchmen  upon  the  mount 
Epkraim  shall  cry,  Arise  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  Zion,  unto  the 
Lord  our  God."  Now  Israel  did  not,  at  the  first  return,  plant 
vines  at  Samaria:  the  ])co|)le  vvlio  inhabited  there-  were 
Cutheans,  under  Sanballat,  and  were  hostile  to  the  Jews,  (See 
Nehemiah  ii.  iv.  vi.)  And  as  tlic  people  who  inhabited  the 
territory  of  Ephraim  were  thus  inimical  to  the  Jews,  so  neither 
did  they  ever  encourage  any  to  go  up  to  Zion;  but  on  the  con- 
trary, they  built  a  temple  on  Mount  Gerizim,  in  opposition  to 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  To  this  rivalry  of  the  two  places  the 
woman  of  Samaria  apparently  alludes,  John  iv,  20,  And  as 
the  circumstances  just  adverted  to  prove  that  the  prophecy 
refers  to  some  future  period;  so  the  planting  vines  at  Samaria 
plainly  bespeak  that  it  is  of  a  literal  character.  Moreover,  at 
verse  12  it  is  said: — "They  shall  come  and  sing  in  the  height 

VOL.    II.  —  it) 


186  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

of  Zion,"  &.C. — "and,  they  shall  not  sorrow  any  more  at  all:" 
whereas  their  sorrows  and  troubles  have  been  more  abundant 
since  their  return  from  Babylon  than  ever  they  were  before; 
and  they  have  even  yet  a  tribulation  to  go  through,  which  will 
be  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world.  See  Daniel 
xii.  1. 

I  pass  over,  for  the  present,  various  prophecies  contained  in 
Ezekiel  from  chapters  xxviii.  to  xxxix. — the  four  last  of  these 
especially,  as  the  repetition  of  similar  testimony  will,  I  con- 
ceive, be  unnecessary  after  what  has  been  adduced.  I  will  only 
here  farther  observe,  that  the  division  of  the  land,  and  the  de- 
scription of  the  cities  and  temple  given  in  chapters  xl,  to  xlviii. 
are  quite  different,  as  is  universally  admitted,  from  any  thing 
which  was  accomplished  after  the  return  from  Babylon;  and 
therefore  in  the  judgment  of  most  it  remains  to  be  yet  ful- 
filled. And  there  is  another  circumstance  likewise  worthy  of 
notice,  in  regard  to  the  temple,  &c.  described  in  Ezekiel,  viz. 
that  no  individual  has  as  yet  been  enabled  to  produce  any  thing 
like  a  consistent  interpretation  of  it  upon  the  mystical  or  sym- 
bolical principle.  There  are  somethings  in  that  long  descrip- 
tion which  appear  to  invite  a  mystical  interpretation;  but  there 
are  others  which  can  in  no  wise  be  thus  explained,  and  which 
commentators  are  consequently  obliged  to  pass  slightly  over, 
or  to  leave  them  as  they  find  tiiem.  The  reader  who  wishes 
to  see  how  completely  all  commentators  have  been  at  fault  on 
this  matter,  need  only  turn  to  Mr.  Scott's  introductory  obser- 
vations on  the  fortieth  chapter,  and  his  subsequent  treatment 
of  particulars.  We  shall  have  occasion  however  to  return  to 
this  subject  presently. 

Passing  on  to  Hosea  iii.  4,  5,  we  have  the  following  pro- 
phecy— "For  the  children  of  Israel  shall  abide  many  days 
without  a  king,  and  without  a  prince,  and  without  a  sacrifice, 
and  without  an  image,  and  without  an  ephod,  and  without 
teraphim:  afterward  shall  the  children  of  Israel  return,  and 
seek  the  Lord  their  God  and  David  their  king;  and  shall  fear 
the  Lord  and  his  goodness  in  the  laller  days."  There  are  two 
points  of  considerable  importance  in  this  passage:  viz.  L  The 
condition  of  Israel  during  the  time  of  their  affliction  related 
therein.  2.  The  period  of  their  deliverance  from  it.  In 
regard  to  the  first  jjoint  it  will  be  easy  to  shew  that  it  was  7}ot 
their  condition  during  the  Babylonish  captivity;  and  in  regard 
to  the  second,  that  the  period  named  is  not  that  of  their  return 
from  Babylon. 

First  then  as  regards  their  allliction:  tliey  are  to  abide  many 
days  without  a  sacrifice,  image,  ephod,  or  leraphim.      Mr.  Scott, 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    ^§7 

after  rightly  explaining  their  abiding  without  a  sacrifice,  thus 
proceeds:  "They  have  also  remained  without  an  image, 
ephod,  or  teraphim, — without  any  of  those  idolatrous  observan- 
ces and  apparatus,  to  which  they  were  so  generally  attached 
when  this  prophecy  was  uttered."  Notwithstanding  the 
opinion  of  that  able  commentator,  the  sense  here  attached  to 
the  words  is  manifestly  inconsistent  with  scripture.  For  the 
prophecy  regards,  not  Judah  in  particular,  but  Israel  in  the 
general;  and  it  is  declared  of  them,  when  they  should  be  scat- 
tered among  the  nations — "There  ye  shall  serve  gods,  theicork 
of  men's  hands,  wood  and  stone,  which  neither  see,  nor  hear,  nor 
smell.  But  if  from  thence  thou  shalt  seek  the  Lord  thy  God 
thou  shalt  find  him,  if  thou  seek  him  with  all  thy  heart  and 
with  all  thy  soul."  Deut.  iv.  28,  29;  see  also  Deut.  xxviii. 
36,  6  4,  and  Jcr.  xvi.  13.  The  termination  of  this  affliction  is 
evidently  the  same; — viz.  their  seeking  the  Lord:  but  the 
affliction  itself  is  so  manifestly  contradictory  to  Mr.  Scott's 
interpretation,  that  we  are  compelled  to  seek  a  meaning  of  the 
terms  image,  ephod,  and  teraphim  more  according  with  the 
description  of  their  condition  in  Deuteronomy  and  Jeremiah. 
Jerome  and  Grotius  render  the  word  naj^n  by  altar,  instead  of 
image,  and  they  contend  that  the  word  teraphim,  (as  does  Cal- 
vin) is  one  of  a  middle  nature,  and  may  signify  the  cherubim 
from  whence  came  the  answer  of  God.  The  Septuagint  ver- 
sion renders  the  passage — ovh  oi/toc  fius-wa-TJi/Jwu,  ouSi  hpaTua.;,  ouifi  efxxav 
or,  in  some  copies,  J'y,\a,o-ia,; — which  is  literally,  without  an  altar, 
without  a  priesthood,  and  without  manifestations.  This  consists 
with  tlieir  being  without  a  sacrifice;  all  which  is  spoken  of  in 
scripture  as  a  judicial  infliction;  whereas  to  be  without  idola- 
trous worship  is  no  affliction,  but  on  the  contrary,  to  he  given 
up  to  it,  is  the  mark  of  God's  great  anger.  See  Rom.  i.  But 
the  house  of  Israel  was  n(5t,  strictly  speaking,  in  this  plight 
during  the  Babylonish  captivity.  They  were  indeed  renioved 
from  their  tetnple  and  altar;  but  they  had  prophets  among 
them,  as  Daniel,  Ezekiel,  Obadiah,  and  Jeremiah  into  a  con- 
siderable part  of  it;  and  veiy  extraordinary  manifestations  of 
God  in  visions  to  the  two  former  of  these  prophets;  as  also  of 
his  power  and  mercy  toward  them  shewed  by  his  dealings 
with  Esther,  Mordecai,  Daniel,  &c.  by  whose  means  he  pro- 
tected them  and  caused  them  to  enjoy  much  favour,  and  their 
religion  greatly  to  increase.  It  was  not  till  after  the  return 
from  Babylon  that  those  who  remained  in  captivity  lost 
entirely  those  advantages  here  named;  so  that  the  best  of 
them,  who  practise  not  idolatry,  are  without  any  manifestation 
of  God's  beit>g  among  them;  and  the  generality  of  the  ten 


188  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

tribes  have  fallen  into  the  idolatrous  practices  of  the  heathen 
round  about  them.* 

But,  secondly,  the  time  when  they  shall  return  and  seek 
the  Lord  and  fear  him  is  the  latter  days.  Now  there  is  no 
commentator  of  note  who  considers  that  the  latter  days  can 
apply  to  any  period  earlier  than  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  Dispensation:  whereas  the  return  from  the  captivity 
was  upwards  of  five  hundred  years  prior  to  that  period:  and 
when  the  period  did  arrive,  instead  of  its  being  marked  by  the 
national  conversio?i  of  the  Jews,  they  cast  off  their  fear  in  their 
national  capacity,  and  were  again  cast  out  of  their  land  by  the 
Lord.t  Many  learned  commentators,  however,  conceive  that 
by  latter  days  is  to  be  understood  the  period  of  the  end  of  the 
Gentile  disjiensation;  and  the  context  of  scripture  and  connec- 
tion of  events  bears  them  out  in  most  instances. 

(2.)  I  shall  only  at  present  add  to  the  specimen  now  given 
from  the  Old  Testament,  of  prophecies  which  concern  a  future 
literal  restoration  of  Israel;  that  the  New  Testament  is  not  silent 
on  this  important  and  interesting  matter. 

In  Matthew  xxiii.,  where  the  Lord  foretels  the  wrath  which 
should  come  upon  the  Jews  for  the  righteous  blood  they  had 
shed,  (v.  35)  he  is  evidently  speaking  of  them  in  their  national 
character;  and  he  adds — "liehold  your  house  is  left  unto  you 
desolate.  For  I  say  uinto  you.  Ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth, 
till  ye  shall  say.  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  Their  Ao?/se  is  here  used  to  designate  them  in  their 
national  character,  even  as  they  are  often  called  "the  house  of 
Judah,"  and  "the  house  of  Israel,"  &c.  Some  say  the  Lord 
merely  alludes  in  the  threat  here  instanced  to  his  providential 
coming  to  destroy  Jerusalem:  but  how  did  this  fulfd  his  word? 
If  this  were  the  comin<r  he  meant,  the  house  of  Judah  did  in- 
deed feel  him  at  this  time;  but  what  discernment  had  they  of 
him?  Wlien  did  they  nationally  recognise  him,  and  declare 
him  blessed?  These  things  have  therefore  to  be  fulfilled  at  his 
second  advent. 

In  Acts  i.  6,  7,  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  inquire  of  him: 
"Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel?" 
The  Rev.  A.  M'Caul,  Missionary  to  the  Jews,  has,  in  a  work 

*  It  can  hardly  be  said  that  they  were  without  a  prince  during  that  time; 
I'or  Jehoial<ini  was  raised  to  a  throne  whilst  in  that  captivity.  2  Kin2:s  xxv.  27. 
And  of  Jechonia.s  came  Salathiel,  a  prince;  and  ol'  him  came  Zorobabel, 
another  prince.     See  Matthew  i.  12. 

t  Mr.  Scott  says  on  this  place— "Let  it  be  recollected  that  this  prediction 
follows  that  of  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles.  (Note  ii.  18—20).''  I  cannot  find 
however  anything  in  chapter  ii.,  or  his  note  on  it,  referred  to  above,  to  justify 
the  remark. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  ^§9 

recently  published,*  fully  established  the  fact,  that  the  term 
Israel  and  Gentiles  are  in  the  New  Testament  commonly  used 
in  the  same  distinctive  sense  as  they  are  employed  in  the  Old 
Testament;  though  I  do  not  agree  with  the  excellent  author  in 
the  extent  to  which  he  endeavours  to  ajjply  his  principle  of 
arguing.  It  is  sufficient  however  here  to  assert,  that  our  Lord 
could  liave  understood  his  disciples  at  this  time  in  no  other 
than  in  a  literal  sense,  and  that  his  reply  is  calculated  to  con- 
firm their  expectation  of  the  national  supremacy  of  the  literal 
Israel  at  some  future  period;  though  he  does  not  gratify  their 
curiosity  as  to  the  time. 

Romans  xi.  is  very  clear  and  decisive  on  both  points.  It 
begins  by  declaring,  that  <*God  hath  not  cast  away  his  people;" 
and  the  fact  to  wiiich  Paul  a|)peals,  as  proof  that  all  are  not 
cast  oir,  viz. — that  he  himself  is  an  Israelite  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  siievvs,  that  he  is  s))eaking 
of  Israel,  not  in  an}'  mystical  sense,  but  in  the  literal  national 
sense.  And  after  proceeding  to  shew,  that  even  at  that  time 
there  was  still  an  ^'electio?i  of  grace"  from  among  them,  (v.  5) 
and  that  the  rest  were  "blinded,"  and  had  "fallen"  and  were 
"cast  away;"  (v.  7,  12,  15)  he  goes  on  to  insist  that  they  should 
be  grafTcd  into  the  vine  again;  speaking  of  them  still  in  their 
distinct  national  character,  as  the  ''natural  branches,"  (v.  21 — 
24)  and  admonishing  the  Gentiles,  as  Gentiles  (v.  13,)  not  to 
boast  against  them;  intimating  that  there  was  also  to  come  a 
time  of  iTJection  to  the  Gentiles,  if  they  should  cease  to  walk 
by  faith;  (v.  20,  22)  and  that  when  the  election  or  "fulness" 
from  among  the  Gentiles  should  be  complete,  then  "there 
should  come  out  of  Zion  the  Deliverer,  and  turn  away  ungod- 
liness from  Jacob."  (v.  26,  27.)  On  this  passage  we  will  hear 
Mr.  M'Caul. — "In  Romr  xi.  26,  27,  the  apostle  proves  the 
future  national  conversion  of  Israel  by  a  citation  from  the  59th 
chapter  of  Isaiah — "And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved;  as  it  is 
written.  There  shall  come  out  of  Zion  the  Deliverer  and  shall 
turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob:  for  this  is  my  covenant 
unto  them  when  I  shall  take  away  their  sins."  Now  the 
manner  and  object  of  this  citation  proves  two  things — First, 
that  this  passage  of  the  prophet  refers  to  the  literal  Israel. 
Second,  that  it  refers  to  a  time  yet  to  come.  But  what  is  the 
immediate  context? — "Arise,  shine;  for  thy  light  is  come,  &c. 
Surely  the  isles  shall  wait  for  me,  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish 
first,  to  bring  thy  sons  from  far,  their  silver  and  gold  with 
them,  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  and   to  the  Holy 

*  "New  Te«;lament  evidence  to  prove  that  the  Jews  are  to  be  restored  to  the 
Lind  of  Israel."    Lond.  Wertheim.  12mo.  pp.  2G. 
16* 


190   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

One  of  Israel,  because  he  hath  glorified  thee,  &c.  Violence 
shall  no  more  be  heard  within  thy  land,  wasting  nor  destruc- 
tion within  thy  borders."  To  separate  this  whole  60th  chapter 
from  the  preceding  verses  [quoted  from  it]  is  impossible;  but 
if  it  be  connected  with  them,  then  it  refers,  according  to  the 
apostles,  to  some  fu.ture  period  of  the  literal  Israel's  history, 
and  predicts  their  restoration  to  their  own  land."  p.  17. 

Some  have  thought,  especially  Mr.  Jose])h  Mede,  that  1 
Tim.  i.  IG.  also  proves  tliis  point:  '*Howbeit  for  this  cause  I 
obtained  mercy,  that  in  mejirst  Jesus  Christ  might  show  forth 
all  long-suffering  for  a  pallcrn  (or  type,  uTroTUTra^a-iv)  to  them  which 
should  hereafter  believe  on  him  to  life  everlasting;"  and  they 
endeavour  to  show,  that  the  sudden  conversion  of  the  apostle 
on  his  way  to  Damascus,  and  his  subsequently  becoming  a 
most  successful  minister  of  the  gospel  to  the  'Gentiles,  is  the 
type  of  the  manner  in  which  all  Israel  shall  hereafter  be  con- 
verted,— viz.  by  the  shining  forth  of  the  Lord  from  heaven, — 
and  of  their  afterwards  becoming  a  great  blessing  to  the  Gen- 
tile world.  I  am  desirous,  however,  not  to  mix  up  doubtful 
matter  in  an  argum.ent  of  such  great  importance;  and  therefore 
I  leave  this,  and  some  other  passages  of  the  New  Testament: 
otherwise,  much  more  might  be  said  upon  this  subject. 

2.  Much  of  the  weight  of  the  argument,  or  rather  evidence, 
for  the  future  literal  restoration  of  Israel,  depends  upon  the 
two-fold  fact,  that  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  were  not  restored  at 
the  time  of  the  return  of  Judah  from  captivity;  and  that  they 
continue  in  existence  in  some  portion  of  the  globe,  under  such 
circumstances  as  that  they  can  again,  in  the  piovidence  of  God, 
be  recognized  and  approved  in  their  national  character.  This 
portion  of  the  subject  will  therefore  require  separate  conside- 
ration. 

(I.)  The  fact  that  the  restoration  of  the  whole  house  of  Israel, 
' — including  both  Kphraim  and  Judah,  or  tlie  ten  tribes  and  the 
two  tribes, — is  foretold  in  tiie  j)rophets,  has  already  come  be- 
fore the  reader  in  some  of  the  prophecies  already  adduced,  and 
therefore  needs  no  farther  evidence  in  this  place.*  I  proceed, 
therefore,  to  the  objections,  the  strength  of  all  which  may  be 
found  in  two  or  three  articles  by  a  very  able  writer  in  vol.  iv. 
of  the  Investigator  of  Prophecy,  under  the  signature  T.  K. 

The  first  that  I  shall  notice  is  derived  from  the  prophecy 
contained  in  the  5pth  and  5 1st  chapters  of  Jeremiah.  He  ob- 
serves, that  the  return  of  the  ten  tribes  is  foretold  in  chapter  1. 
4,  17,  and  33;  and  that  it  is  in  connection  with  the  capture  of 

*  The  reader  however  may,  if  he  please,  refer  in  nddition  to  Jer.  iii.  18 — 
'Z'.V.  .\x.<.  3;  Ezckicl  xxxix.  Of),  40.  and  Hnsoa  i.  II;  and  ihcre  arc  a  fow  oilier 
texts  wliicli  will  rc()iure  to  he  noticed  in  llic  arc^unient  which  follows. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    JQ^ 

the  literal  Babylon  by  Cyrus.  He  maintains,  therefore,  that 
the  prediction  was  then  fully  accomplished,  and  that  the  re- 
conciliation between  the  two  houses,  which  it  is  then  declared 
should  take  ])lace,  was  also  then  fulfilled,  so  that  wc  hear  not 
afterwards  of  any  schism. 

In  answer  to  this,  two  or  three  things  may  be  briefly  but 
decisively  urged..  First,  the  prophecy  concerning  Babylon  is 
not  to  be  limited  to  the  Babylon  existing  in  the  lime  of  Cyrus; 
various  circumstances  connected  witli  the  prophecy  manifest 
the  contrary,  among  which  one  connected  with  Israel  will  be 
sufficient  for  our  present  purpose:  viz.  that  at  verses  19 — 24, 
there  is  a  reference  to  Israel,  as  the  Lord's  ^'haltle-axe  and  icea- 
pofis  of  zLHir/'  which  is  made  instrumental  in  the  vengeance  on 
Babylon;  and  it  may  be  asked,  Was  Israel  made  a  neapon  of 
war  in  the  Lord's  hand  in  the  time  of  Cyrus,  or  in  any  way 
instrumental  in  inflicting  that  vengeance?  It  may  further  be 
asked.  Were  the  Lord's  people  called  out  of  Babylon,  and 
afforded  an  opportunity  of  escape,  previous  to  the  attack  by 
the  Medes, — as  it  is  distinctly  intimated  in  both  chapters  they 
should  be  at  the  overthrow  of  Babylon,  which  is  there  princi- 
pally intended?  (1.  8;  li.  45.)  Besides,  this  Babylon  was  not 
destroyed  by  Cyrus,  in  the  manner  stated  in  verses  13  and  2G; 
for  the  conquest  and  change  of  dynasty  cannot  be  considered  as 
^^aii  end''  of  tliat  city.  And  as  to  the  Israelites  who  were  of 
the  ten  tribes,  the  main  body  of  them  would  not  be  affected  by 
the  conquest  of  Babylon  by  the  kings  of  the  JNIedes,  (li.  11.) 
seeing  that  they  were  actually  in  previous  captivity  to  the 
Medes  themselves;  for  they  were  placed  in  ''Halah  and  Habor 
by  the  river  of  Gozan,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes."  (2 
Kings  xvii.  6;  xviii.  11.) 

(2.)  But  there  is  historical  evidence  brought  forward  by  this 
writer  from  Josephus  and  Philo  to  show  that  there  actually 
were,  between  the  period  of  the  return  from  Babylon  aiul  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  vast  numbers  of  the  ten 
tribes  in  .ludea,  and  large  colonies  of  them  in  other  places; 
and  that  Jerusalem  was  continually  visited  by  deputies  from 
them  with  offerings.  Other  writers  contend  that  a  sufficiency 
of  individuals  of  the  ten  tribes  returned  with  the  Jews  under 
Zorobaljel,  to  constitute  it  virtually  a  return  of  the  captivity  of 
the  nation.  Whilst  T.  K.  observes,  in  regard  to  the  previous 
jealousy  between  the  tribes:  "So  entirely  do  these  feelings 
appear  to  have  ceased,  that  the  writer  of  the  Maccabees  gives 
to  the  united  population  the  name  of  Israel — a  name  which  I 
suppose  wouUl  be  the  very  last  he  would  have  employed,  if 
any  portion  of  the  former  jealousy  remained,"  p.  32. 

This  latter  circumstance  would  be  anything  but  satisfactory, 


192 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


ill  the  u-ay  of  proof,  even  supposing  there  were  no  contrary 
evidence;  for  the  Jews  have  an  equal  right  to  be  denominated 
Israel,  with  the  members  of  the  ten  tribes.  But  the  simple 
reply,  and  a  completely  sufficient  one,  is  to  be  found  in  Ezra 
i,  5,  vi.  17 — 21,  and  viii.  35.  In  the  two  latter  places  he  calls 
them  all  Israel,  and  speaks  of  an  offering  of  twelve  he-goats, 
according  to  the  number  of  the  tribes  of  Israel;  which  has 
caused  some  to  conclude  that  all  the  tribes  were  there  present. 
But  in  the  former  of  these  three  places  the  same  Ezra  calls  the 
whole  company  that  returned  "Judah  and  Betijami.i.^'  Further, 
although  Josephus  speaks  of  the  number  of  the  ten  tribes  who 
came  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  that  "many  of  them  came,  on  the 
decree  of  Artaxerxes,  with  their  effects  to  Babylon,  desiring 
to  return;"  he  nevertheless  adds,  that  the  main  body  abode 
still  in  Media;  and  therefore  (he  says)  "there  are  two  tribes 
living  in  Asia  and  Europe  in  subjection  to  the  Romans;  but 
the  ten  tribes  are  beyond  the  Euphrates  to  this  time."  (Antiq. 
lib.  ii.  c.  5.  sect.  2.)  As  to  the  Israelites  (or  Jeivs,  for  they 
were  probably  in  most  instances  of  the  latter,)  who  came  up 
to  Jerusalem  for  devout  purposes,  (Acts  ii.  5.)  there  were 
many  in  Hezekiah's  time,  who  came  up  gladly  to  the  Passover 
from  out  of  the  tribes  of  Asher,  JManasseh,  and  Zebulun,  whilst 
yet  the  main  body  of  the  nation  laughed  to  scorn  the  deputies 
sent  to  them  by  the  king  of  Judah.     2  Chron.  xxx.  10,  11. 

There  are  yet,  however,  two  or  three  important  testimonies 
to  be  derived  from  scripture,  which  will  tend  to  put  this  mat- 
ter beyond  a  question.  The  first  is,  that  the  prophet  Zecha- 
riah,  who  prophesied  after  the  return  from  Babylon,  does 
nevertheless  foretell  a  future  restoration  of  "the  house  of 
Judah  and  the  house  of  Joseph,"  concerning  whom  the  Lord 
thus  speaks  by  him. — "I  will  bring  them  again  to  place 
them;-' — "and  they  of  Ephraim  (or  Joseph,)  shall  be  like  a 
mighty  man,  &c." — "I  will  hiss  for  them  and  gather  them, 
&c." — "I  will  bring  them  again  also  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  gather  them  out  of  Assyria,  and  I  will  bring  them  into  the 
land  of  Gilcad  and  Lebanon,  and  place  shall  not  be  found  for 
them.  And  he  shall  pass  through  the  sea  with  affliction,*  and 
shall  smite  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and  all  the  deeps  of  the  river 
shall  dry  up,  &c."  How  exactly  this  corresponds  with  the 
prophecies  already  considered,  and  how  irreconcileable  is  it  all 
with  the  return  from  Babylon! 

Secondly,  as  regards  those  Israelites  of  the  ten  tribes  who 
accompanied  the  Jews  on  their  return  from  Babylon,!  the  case 

♦  Jeromr-  Arias,  and  the  Septuaginl  have  it  not,  "through  tlie  sea  with 
(iJjlictKm,'"  hut— 'by  a  strait  of  the  sea." 

t  The  nmiibcr  couUl  not  have  been  very  great,  seeing  that  the  vhole  multi- 
tude only,  amounted  to  about  fifty  thousand. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    ^93 

is  exactly  provided  for  in  Ezekiel  xxxvii.  At  verses  IG,  17, 
the  prophet  is  directed  to  take  one  stick  and  write  upon  it, 
"For  JuDAH,  and  for  the  children  of  Israel  Ins  companions.''' 
Here  we  have  Judah  and  his  companions  of  the  house  of 
Israel,  as  they  attaclied  themselves  to  him  duringthe  captivity, 
and,  as  it  is  admitted,  they  came  up  with  him  from  Bahylon. 
But  the  prophet  is  next  directed  to  take  another  stick,  and 
write  upon  it,  "For  Joseph,  the  stick  of  Ephraim,  and  for 
all  the  house  of  Israel  his  companions,''  and  join  them  one  to 
another  in  one  stick.  The  Lord  then  goes  on  to  declare  the 
meaning  of  this:  "Behold  1  will  take  the  children  of  Israel 
from  among  the  heathen,  whither  they  be  gone,  and  will 
gather  them  on  everij  side,  and  bring  them  into  their  own  la?id: 
and  1  will  make  them  one  nation  in  the  land  upon  the  moun- 
tains of  Israel;  and  one  king  shall  be  king  to  them  all;  and 
they  shall  no  more  be  tivo  nations,  neither  shall  they  be 
divided  into  two  kingdoms  any  more  at  all.  Neither  shall 
they  defile  themselves  any  more  with  their  idols,  nor  with 
their  detestable  things,  nor  with  atiy  of  their  transgressions, 
&c."  (verses  21 — 23.)  This  is  very  contrary  to  the  charges 
of  abomination  and  wickedness  which  Christ  brought  against 
them  in  his  days.  But  the  prophet  goes  on  to  declare,  "that 
they  shall  dwell  in  the  land  that  I  have  given  unto  Jacob  my 
servant,  wherein  your  fathers  have  dwelt;  and  they  shall 
dwell  therein,  even  they  and  their  prince,  and  their  children, 
and  their  children's  children  for  ever,  and  my  servant  David 
shall  be  their  prince  for  ever."  Ver.  25.  And  then  the  pro- 
phecy goes  on  to  say,  "that  the  Lord's  sanctuari/  shall  be  with 
them  for  evermore,"  and  also  his  "tabernacle;"  whereas  we 
know  that  they  have  all  of  them  been  now,  for  nearly  ISOO 
years  without  sanctuary  or  tabernacle  at  all.  On  the  foregoing 
verses  just  quoted,  the  author  of  an  animated  and  pertinent 
tract,  on  this  subject  says:  "What  do  you  think  they  (the 
people  of  Israel)  understood  when  they  read  these  ^vords? 
what  could  they  understand?  Do  you  think  that  when  they 
read  of  "their  own  land,  the  mountains  of  Israel,"  or,  (as  it  is 
called  in  v.  25,)  "llie  land  that  I  have  given  to  Jacob  my  ser- 
vant, wherein  your  fathers  have  dwelt,"  they  understood 
either  heaven  or  the  Gcnlile  church,  in  neither  of  which  their 
fathers  had  ever  dwelt?'  They  knew  that  this  prophecy  had 
been  given  long  after  the  division  between  Judah  and 
Ephraim;  and  when  had  it  ever  been  fulfilled?  In  what  pos- 
sible sense  could  it  be  said,  that  the  house  of  Israel  and  the 
house  of  Judah  had  been  re-united,  and  formed  "o^f  nation  in 

*  See  Acts  ii.  34. 


194  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

the  land''  under  ^'one  king?''  Read  the  whole  chapter,  and 
say  how  they  could  possibly  understand  less  than  that  the 
kino-dom  of  Israel  should  be  restored  in  the  plain  and  obvious 
sense  of  the  words?"* 

This  portion  of  the  subject  may  be  closed  by  finally  ob- 
serving, that  as  the  king  they  are  to  be  made  one  nation  under, 
is  here  (as  also  in  other  places,!)  declared  to  be  of  the  house 
of  David,  all  application  of  these  prophecies  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  under  the  princes  who  ruled 
from  the  time  of  the  return  from  the  captivity  to  Titus,  is 
again  forbidden:  for  the  Maccabees  were  Asmoneans,  who 
ruled  to  the  exclusion  of  David;  and  they  were  tributary 
princes;  whereas  Jerusalem  is  under  David  "to  serve  herself 
of  those  whom  she  has  served." 

(3.)  But  if  the  ten  tribes  are  to  be  restored  in  sucii  wise  as 
that  they  may  be  identified,  the  interesting  question  arises — 
Where  are  thei/?  They  are  declared  by  Jerome  (see  on  Dan. 
xi.)  to  have  been  existing  in  or  near  the  places  where  they 
were  originally  located  in  his  time,  which  enables  us  to  keep 
them  in  sight  down  into  the  ffth  century.J  Mr.  Hirschfeld, 
who  has  been  before  quoted,  says,  that  tliey  were  still  on  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates,  in  Persia,  and  its  neighbouring  pro- 
vinces down  into  the  eleventh  century,  ''since  they  had  their 
heads  of  the  captivity,  and  most  flourishing  academies;  and 
though  considerably  weakened  by  persecution,  yet  travellers 
of  that  nation  discovered  many  synagogues  of  their  brethren 
in  the  12lh  and  14th  centuries."  He  therefore  concludes 
them  to  be  still  there. §  Be  this  as  it  may,  they  have  latterly 
disappeared  from  the  observation  of  the  more  civilized  portion 
of  mankind;  and  it  has  become  a  subject  of  very  interesting 
inquiry,  with  the  Christian  traveller,  the  missionary,  and  the 
student  of  prophecy,  to  ascertain  their  present  place  or  places 
of  existence. 

The  hypotheses  and  conjectures  on  this  head  may  be  resolv- 
ed into  two  classes.  The  first  is  that  which  supposes  certain 
nations  and  tribes  of  men,  who  are  at  present,  as  regards  the 
mass  of  them,   entirely  unconscious   of  the   matter,  to   have 

*  "The  Future  Destiny  of  Israel,"  by  a  Clersvrnan  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. 1830 —p.  7. 

t  Jer.  XX.X.  1 — 9;  Ezck.  xxxiv.;  Ilosea  iii.  1 — 5;   Zcch.  xii.  10,  &c. 

t  Jerome  died  about  a.  d.  4"20. 

§  Mr.  Hirschfeld  gives  no  authorities  for  his  statements,  and  I  am  unac- 
quainted with  his  source  of  information  in  this  particular;  otherwise  than 
that  synagogues  of  Jews  have  been  found  there  without  any  dispute.  But  the 
question  is,  whether  they  were  of  the  ten  tribes,  or  of  Judah  and  Benjamin: 
the  term  Israelite  has  been  almost  merged  for  a  long  period  in  that  of  Jc7i', 
which  is  applied  by  some  to  all,  indiscriminately,  without  question  as  to 
tribe. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  J 95 

originally  descended  from  the  Israelites.  In  the  year  1650 
Thomas  Thorowt^ood,  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  divines, 
published  a  work  called  "Jeros  in  America,  or  probabilities  that 
the  Americans  are  Jews.'"  Sir  William  Penn  at  a  later  period 
has  expressed  the  same  opinion;  and  it  has  more  recently  been 
revived  in  a  series  of  papers  that  appeared  in  the  Jewish 
Expositor,  under  the  title  of  "The  Star  in  the  West,"  and 
also  in  a  late  publication  by  Mrs.  Barbai'a  Ann  Simon,  called 
<'The  Hope  of  Israel."  Some  plausible  grounds  are  given 
for  the  opinion,  derived  chiefly  from  their  customs  and  super- 
stitions. 

I  have  myself  likewise,  in  a  paper  published  in  the  Jewish 
Expositor,  vol.  xiii.  p.  125,  under  the  signature  Abdiel,  en- 
deavoured to  demonstrate,  by  a  series  of  facts,  that  the  Welcli 
or  ancient  Britons  have  a  Jewish  origin;  which  is  therein 
proved  by  the  similarity  of  language,  names,  ancient  customs, 
superstition,  and  other  circumstances.* 

The  same  affinity  might  perhaps  be  claimed  for  the  Irish, 
and  perhaps  for  many  others.  But,  however  plausible,  and 
even  convincing,  such  hypotheses  may  be,  as  establishing  the 
origin  of  a  nation,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  evidence  of  the 
identity  of  any  people  with  the  ten  tribes  must  be  of  a  cliarac- 
ter  more  immediately  obvious,  being  sustained  by  tradition 
among  themselves,  and  supported  perhaps  by  genealogical 
tables.     This  brings  us  to  the  second  class  of  evidence. 

The  Jews  of  Cochin,  on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  have  been 
supposed  to  be  of  the  ten  tribes.  Bryant,  speaking  of  them, 
says,  "they  came  there,  according  to  Hamilton,  as  early  as  the 
captivity  under  Nebuchadnezzar."  But  Dr.  Buchanan,  who 
visited  them  in  1806,  considers  them  to  be  Jews  of  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin,  who  came  there  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem by  Titus.  They  arejn  number  about  one  thousand,  about 
one-half  of  whom  are  white  and  the  other  half  black.  Mr. 
Joseph  Wolfl^,  the  eminent  Jewish  missionary,  who  has  since 
visited  them,  makes  a  distinction  between  the  white  Jews  and 
the  black  Jews,  which  may  tend  to  reconcile  both  these 
accounts:  and  he  is  decidedly  of  opinion  that  the  Beni-Israel 
around  and  at  Bombay  are  of  the  ten  tribes.     Page  194.t 

*  It  may  be  interesting  also  to  some  to  notice  here,  in  reference  to  the 
American  Indians,  that  the  Welch  may  claim  the  honour  of  having  discover- 
ed America  at  an  earlier  period  than  Columbus;  as  appears  from  a  passage 
concerning  an  adventurer  of  the  name  of  Madoc,  (which  is  the  same  as  Mor- 
(iccai  and  Mcrodoch)  in  Lloyd's  History  of  Cambria.  He  traces  various 
British  names  given  to  places' and  objects  in  America;  and  if  this  be  so,  it  is 
just  possible  that  some  of  the  customs  alluded  to  among  the  Indians  were 
derived  intermediately  from  the  Welch. 

t  It  is  from  the  journal  of  this  enterprising  traveller,  for  1831 — 4,  recently 
published,  to  which  this  and  subsequent  references  arc  made. 


19(3    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Another  race  of  people  worthy  of  note  are  the  Afghans  or 
Aff(rhans  in  Persia;  though  the  accounts  respecting  them  are 
in  some  measure  conflicting.  We  learn  from  2  Kings  xvii.  6, 
and  xviii.  11,  (as  before  has  been  noticed)  that  some  of  the  ten 
tribes  were  anciently  placed  down  at  Halah  and  Habor.  Mr. 
Wolff  in  his  recent  journey  to  Persia  and  ancient  Media,  was 
informed  by  the  Jews  of  Bokhara  and  Balk  in  Toorkestaun, 
both  of  them  cities  Which  he  visited,  that  they  are  the  ancient 
Ilabor  and  Halah;  but  that  the  Jews  lost  their  written 
accounts  of  this  matter  in  the  time  of  Jenghis  Khan.  This 
account  was  corroborated  by  the  Mussulman  mullahs;  who 
told  him  further,  that  the  first  name  of  Balk  was  Ha?iahj 
and  afterwards  Halah,  and  that  it  had  been  built  by  a  son 
of  Adam.  This  seems  to  decide,  so  far  as  tradition  can  do  it, 
that  this  is  the  region  in  which  the  ten  tribes  were  formerly 
located. 

In  regard  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  region,  Mr.  Wolff  ob- 
tained further  accounts.  He  states  that  the  same  Jews  of 
Bokhara  informed  him,  that  they  emigrated  from  Babylon  to 
Persia,  and  settled  at  Sabzawar,'  two  days'  journey  from 
Meshed;  and  that  before  the  time  of  Jenghis  Khan  they  were 
carried  to  Balk  and  Samarcand.  When  Samarcand  fell  into 
ruins  a  great  number  of  them  went  to  Bokhara;  and  there,  they 
say,  they  found  mamj  rvho  had  originally  come  from  Babylon, 
and  of  whom  maruj  had  emigrated  to  China,  which  they  call 
Tsheen  Patsheen;  and  that  these  took  their  genealogies  nith  them. 
Pages  187  and  194. 

Meshed  having  been  named  above,  as  connected  with  that 
district,  it  will  next  be  useful  to  inquire  what  account  Mr. 
Wolff  gives  of  the  Jews  of  this  place;  and  what  were  their 
opinions  also  of  the  Affghans.  Mr.  Wolff  says  that  the  Jews 
of  Meshed  have  not  the  Talmud;  that  they  keep  themselves 
entirely  secluded  from  their  neighbours,  and  never  intermarry 
with  them,  nor  even  with  the  Jews  of  Yazd,  on  account  of  the 
bad  character  of  the  latter;  that  they  have  no  hatred  towards 
Jesus  Christ,  neither  have  those  of  Toorkestaun  and  Khoros- 
saun;  which  caused  Mr.  Wolff  to  infer,  that  they  were  of  the 
ten  tribes  who  had  no  share  in  the  crucifixion.  Page  159. 
He  further  states  that  these  Jews  believe  the  Affghans  to  be 
descendants  of  the  Jews;  an  admission  which  we  may  be 
quite  sure  a  Jew  would  be  slow  to  make  in  regard  to  those 
who  arc  living  as  Gentiles,  unless  he  had  strong  and  irresisti- 
ble reasons  for  so  concluding.  And  he  adds,  that  Aga  Levi, 
one  of  these  Jews,  informed  him  that  the  tribes  of  Benjamin, 
Simeon,  and  Joseph  were  carried  to  Candahar,  where  they  lost 
their  books,  and  then  turned  Mahommedans.      Page  134. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    J 97 

On  the  other  hand,  Tvlr.  Wolff  has  some  (/o?/6/5  respecting  the 
Affghans;  First,  because  they  have  not  the  Jewish  physiogno- 
my; secondly,  because  there  existed  a  contrary  tradition, 
that  they  were  descended  from  the  Copts;  thirdly,  because  he 
could  only  trace  one  word  in  their  language  which  was  strictly 
Hebrew,  viz.  iin  or,  light,  (p.  231.)  He  confesses,  however, 
that  there  were  two  tribes  of  this  people — the  Yoitssuf  Szeye 
and  the  Khaib-aree,  "which  cannot  be  looked  upon  without 
astonishment.  They  are  the  only  two  tribes  having  a  Jewish 
countenance:  their  customs  are  quite  patriarchal;  and  they  are 
the  most  hospitable  of  the  Affghans,"*  (p.  242.)  Mr.  Wolff 
also  believes,  and  gives  the  positive  proof  of  documents  on  the 
subject,  that  the  proper  names  of  the  Affghans  in  general  are 
in  numerous  instances  Jewish.  They  have  many  Hebrew 
names  in  their  genealogy  in  tracing  themselves  up  to  Affghana 
their  ancestor.  This  Affghana,  according  to  an  ancient  Per- 
sian manuscript,  is  the  son  of  one  Inniah  or  Jeremiah,  and 
before  him  all  is  regularly  Hebrew  up  to  Abraham,    (p.  241-2.) 

The  opposing  testimony  to  Mr.  Wolff,  as  regards  their  lan- 
guage, is  of  high  authority.  Sir  William  Jones  says,  that  the 
best  Persian  historians  declare  them  to  be  descended  from  the 
Jevvs;t  and  that  their  families  are  distinguished  by  the  names 
of  the  Jewish  tribes:  although,  since  their  conversion  to  Is- 
lamism,  they  studiously  conceal  their  origin. — "The  Pushtoo 
language  (he  adds)  ofivhich  I  haze  seen  a  dictio?iary,  has  a  mani- 
fest resemblance  to  the  Chaldaic.^^  And  he  notices  the  fact,  that 
the  Apocryphal  Ezra  speaks  of  a  portion  of  the  ten  tribes  who 
separated  from  the  rest,  and  settled  in  a  district  which  he  calls 
Arsareth,  and  that  there  was  then  a  considerable  district  under 
the  dominion  of  the  Affghans,  which  they  called  Hazareth  or 
Hazaret.  J  Captain  S.  Riley  of  Nusseerabad,  a  letter  from  whom 
is  likewise  inserted  in  ^le  Journal  (p.  227,)  believes  the  Aff- 
ghans to  be  of  Jewish  descent;  on  account  of  the  great  number 
of  Hebrew  proper  names  in  their  appellatives,  and  their  dialect 
still  retaining  the  genitive  sign  of  the  Chaldee,  and  other  marks 
of  cognate  affinity.  The  missionaries  Carey  and  Marshman 
state  "that  in  the  Pushtoo  or  Affghan  language  there  are  more 

*  Mr.  Wolff  also  instances  some  remarkaMe  customs  observed  in  another 
tribe  of  them,  which  he  calls  the  Kaffie  Seeah  Poosh:  viz.  in  their  sacrifices 
they  sprinkle  the  blood  of  the  victim  (a  sheep  or  a  cow)  on  an  idol  which  is 
silting  on  a  horse,  and  the  meat  they  give  to  men.  They  have  a  throne  of 
stone,  in  which  are  some  words  taken  irorn  the  Pentateuch  of  Moses.  They 
distinguish  between  clean  and  unclean  animals, — mice,  dogs,  and  fish  being  of 
the  latter:  and  women  after  childbirth  are  separated  from  them  for  three  days, 
and  considered  unclean.    (See  Lev.  .Kii.  2 — 0.)    Page  246. 

t  In  Burnes'  Travels  to  Bokhara  he  states,  that  they  look  like  Jews,  and  that 
the  younger  bl-oiher  marries  the  widow  of  the  elder.     Vol.  i.  p.  164. 

t  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  i.  p.  336. 
VOL.  II.  — 17 


198  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Hebrew  words  than  in  that  of  any  other  nation:"*  and  they 
quote  a  learned  Aflghan  as  saying,  "that  his  nation  are  Beni 
Israel,  but  not  Yahood" — that  is  to  say,  sons  of  Israel,  but  not 
Jews, 

The  most  reasonable  conclusion  therefore  is,  that  ISIr.  WoliT 
is  mistaken  in  regard  to  their  language.  He  did  not  under- 
stand it,  but  merely  picked  up  a  few  words  as  he  travelled, 
whicli  were  given  to  him  in  answer  to  his  inquiries,  as  the 
names  of  objects  tov>^hich  he  probably  pointed.  This  afforded 
him  no  opportunity  of  judging  of  the  inflexions  of  the  words 
as  they  come  under  regimen;  which  is  the  point  to  which 
Captain  Riley  speaks:  nor  is  a  column  or  two  of  words  acci- 
dentally assorted,  to  be  put  in  competition  with  the  didionarij 
which  Sir  William  Jones  declares  he  inspected.  Neither  does 
it  account  for  the  admitted  fact  of  the  number  of  Hebrew  ap- 
pellatives. 

Other  places  have  been  named,  in  which  it  is  supposed  the 
descendants  of  the  ten  tribes  have  existed;  as  the  kingdom  of 
Cashmere  in  Hindostan,  and  the  interior  of  Africa;  both  men- 
tioned by  Easnage  in  his  History  of  the  Jews.t  I  do  not  how- 
ever wish  to  enter  into  conjectural  matter,  excepting  with 
regard  to  one  instance;  which  is  based  upon  a  hint  contained 
in  scripture,  and  therefore  entitled  to  consideration.  I  must 
preface  it,  however,  witji  the  observation,  that  the  fact  of  the 
existence  of  the  ten  tribes  having  in  later  years  become  in- 
volved in  considerable  obscurity,  is  no  argument  against  the 
literal  fulfilment  of  the  prophetic  word  respecting  them,  but  a 
very  striking  confirmation  of  its  Jiteral  certainty  and  truth: 
since  the  scriptures  themselves  speak  of  them  as  if  removed 
from  observation  previous  to  their  restoration.  They  are 
called  in  the  first  instance  <'o?//c«.s/s  of  Israel,"  as  distinguished 
from  the  ^'■dhperaed  oi  Judah,"  (Isa.  xi.  12.)  and  on  tlieir  res- 


*  See  a  note  in  Mr.  Bickersteth'.s  "Guide  to  Prophecy,"  p.  5L 
t  Bernier,  in  iiis  description  of  Hindoostan,  gives  ground  to  conclude  that 
Cashmere  was  anciently  possessed  by  either  Jews,  or  the  posterity  of  the  ten 
tribes,  and  that  they  apostatized.  Mr.  Wolfi"  could  find  none  there  on  his 
recent  visit,  but  picked  up  traditionary  accounts  that  many  of  them  had  emi- 
grated into  Tartary.  And  Basnage  quotes  the  opinions  of  travellers,  as  to  there 
being  large  colonics  of  the  ten  tribes  in  Tartary;  and  also  that  there  existed 
in  the  vri<j/)/i„ii,-hoiirl  of  Persia,  secured  by  mountains  which  surrounded  them, 
and  ind(|i(iii|iiit  ol  the  Persian  power,  a  race  of  Jews,  who  were  in  their  habits 
very  like  Tin  tars,  iiaving  flocks  and  dwelling  in  tents.  (Bk.  vi.  ch.  2,  3,  &c.") 
Mr.  Habcrshon,  in  his  recently  published  "Dissertation  on  the  Prophecies, 
.speaking  of  the  Tc7i  Tribes,  says,  "Various  communications  have  lately  been 
made  to  the  world,  through  Jews  who  have  visited  the  Leipsic  fair,  as  well  as 
by  means  of  an  Oriental  Geographical  Society  cstablislied  at  Calcutta,  that  a 
people  exist  in  the  interior  of  Asia,  whose  usages,  physiognomy,  and  oilier 
characteristics,  prove  them  to  belong  to  the  Hebrew  nation.''    Page  181. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    J 99 

me  these,  seeing  I  have  lost  my  children,  and  am  desolate,  a 
captive,  and  removing  to  and  fro?  And  who  hath  brought  up 
these?  Behold  I  was  left  alone:  these,  where  had  they  been? 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold  1  will  lift  up  mine  hand  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  set  up  my  standard  to  the  people,  and  theij  shall 
bring  thy  sons  in  their  arms,  and  thy  daughters  shall  be  carried 
on  their  shoulders?'''     (Isaiah  xlix.  21,  22.) 

In  Isaiah,  however,  chap.  xvi.  3,  4,  the  prophet  thus  ad- 
dresses J\Ioab:*  *'Take  counsel,  execute  judgment;  make  thy 
shadow  as  the  night  in  the  midst  of  the  noon-day;  hide  the  out- 
casts; bewray  not  him  that  wanderelh.  Let  mine  outcasts  dzcell 
with  TiiEE,  Moab; — be  thou  a  covert  to  them  from  the  face  of  the 
spoiler,'' — immediately  connected  with  which  words  are  ex- 
pressions which  seem  to  imply,  that  thus  it  shall  be,  until  that 
determined  be  poured  out  upon  the  desolator,  and  the  spoiler 
shall  cease  from  out  of  the  land. — "For  the  extortioner  is  at 
an  end,  the  spoiler  ceaseth,  the  oppressors  are  consumed  out 
of  the  land;  and  in  mercy  shall  the  throne  be  established,  and 
HE  shall  sit  upon  it  in  truth  in  the  tabernacle  of  David,  judg- 
ing, seeking  judgment,  and  hasting  righteousness."  It  would 
follow  from  this  that  tlie  territory  of  Moab  affords  a  covert  for 
the  ten  tribes;  and  Mr.  Keith  in  treating  on  Dan.  xi.  41, — 
"these  [countries]  shall  escape  out  of  his  hand,  even  Edom  and 
Moab  and  the  chief  of  the  children  of  Ammon," — shews  that 
there  is  to  this  day,  in  the  possession  of  the  Arabs,  a  district 
called  Karak,  and  also  Moab,  which  never  has  been  conquered 
by  the  Turkish  arms;  but  that  the  Porte  is  indeed  itself 
compelled  to  pay  tribute  to  the  Arabs  of  those  parts,  in  order 
to  obtain  permission  for  the  caravans  to  pass  by  their  territory 
unmolested.  And  within  this  district  is  that  part  of  Arabia 
Petrea,  the  inhabitants  of  which  are  so  exceedingly  jealous  of 
strangers  penetrating  into  tlieir  defiles, and  rocks  and  hills,  that 
none  have  both  successfully  penetrated  and  fully  discovered 
that  singular  region.! 

3.  Tliere  are  other  points  worthy  of  notice  in  regard  to  the 
restoration,  some  of  which  are  likewise  somewhat  involved  in 
obscurity,  from  the  circumstance  that  the  different  texts  which 

♦  In  regard  to  Monh,  I  consider  tlie  prophecy  here  cited  has  respect  to  the 
territory  and  geographical  circumstances  of  the  country,  whatever  the  inha- 
bitants in  possession  of  it  may  be  called.  At  the  same  time  it  mus-t  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  captivity  of' Moab  is  to  return.  (Deut.  ii.  9.  Jer.  xlviii.  47; 
xlix.  6.) 

t  Mr.  Keith  does  not  make  these  remarks  with  any  reference  to  the  ten 
tribes.  Particulars  will  be  found  in  his  work  on  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy; 
and  the  circumstance  of  Moab  being  a  convert  for  the  Ten  Tribes  is  more 
largely  handlotl  in  the  Investigator,  vol.  iv.  p.  312.  Egypt  is  also  there  men- 
tioned, as  being  a  country  from  whence  thev  will  in  numbers  proceed.  See 
Lowth  on  Isaiah  xix.  18—25. 


200  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

treat  of  them  have  never  yet  been  sufficiently  considered, 
compared  one  with  the  other,  and  adjusted  into  their  exact 
situations  in  the  prophetic  narrative.  For  example,  there  are 
passages  which  seem  to  declare  that  their  repentance  does  not 
ensue  until  after  their  return,  (or  at  least  the  return  of  a  portion 
of  them — which  I  hold  to  be  the  more  probable  opinion,  and 
that  these  will  be  of  Juchih,)  and  that  the  nations  have  come  up 
to  besiege  them.  The  Fathers  of  antiquity,  who  at  least  were 
acquainted  with  the  earlier  traditions  of  the  church  on  the 
subject,  thought  that  they  would  be  restored  in  an  unconverted 
state,  by  means  of  human  policy,  and  that  they  would  be  the 
first  to  declare  for  Anlichrist,  who  would  march  against  Jerusa- 
lem and  easily  conquer  it,  and  then  cajole  them  by  flatteries 
and  impose  upon  them  by  spurious  miracles.  They  farther 
supi)0sed,  that  Antichrist  will,  in  the  first  instance,  rebuild  the 
city  and  temple  of  Jerusalem,  and  that  the  Jews  will  deceive 
themselves  with  the  hope,  that  the  kingdom  of  Israel  will  be 
restored  by  his  means  to  its  former  splendour.* 

Certain  it  is,  from  the  word  of  God,  "that  Zion  shall  be 
redeemed  with  judgment,  and  her  converts  with  righteousness; 
and  the  destruction  of  the  transgressors  and  of  the  sinners 
shall  be  together,  and  they  that  forsake  the  Lord  shall  be  con- 
sumed." (Isa.  i.  27,  2S.)  And  this  is  to  be  at  the  very  pe- 
riod when  *'the  Lord  shall  restore  her  judges  as  at  the  first, 
and  her  counsellors  as  at  the  beginning;  and  afterrcards  she 
shall  be  called,  "The  City  of  Righteousness,  the  Faithful 
City."  (v.  26.)  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  he  that  is  left 
in  Zion,  and  he  that  remainelh  in  Jerusalem,  shall  be  called 
holy,  every  one  that  is  written  among  the  living  in  Jerusalem; 
when  the  Lord  shall  have  washed  away  the  filth  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Zion,  and  shall  have  purged  the  blood  of  Jerusalem  from 
the  midst  thereof,  by  the  spirit  of  judgment  and  by  the  spirit  of 
burning."  Isaiah  iv.  3,  4.  This  cannot  refer  to  cither  of  the 
two  sieges  of  Jerusalem  which  have  already  occurred;  for 
there  were  none  left  remaining  and  xvritten  among  the  living  in 
Jerusalem  on  those  occasions;  nor  was  the  judgment  followed 
(as  in  this  case  it  is  declared  it  shall  be)  by  the  Lord  creating 
upo.i   every  dwelling  place   of  JNIount   Zion,   and   upon   her 

♦  See  Aretas  in  Apoc.  ix.  14;  Lactam,  lib.  vii.  cap.  17:  Cyril  Hieros. 
Catech.  15.  §  7;  Tlieodoret  in  Daniel  xi.  Jerome  Epist.  ad  Aglas.  diisest. 
OEcirnen.  in  2  Tliess.  ii.  Ephraiin  Syrus  de  Anticliri.sto.  Hippolytus  de 
Consiini.  p.  12.     Suip.  Scv.  2  Dial. 

John  V.  43,  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  be  a  prophetical  denunciation  of 
onr  Lord  to  the  Jews,  that  in  the  last  days,  because  they  now  rejected  Christ, 
there  should  arise  one  who  should  glorify  himself  aiid  whom  they  should 
receive.  "I  am  come  in  my  Father's  name,  and  ye  receive  me  not:  if  anotkcr 
shall  come  in  his  own  name,  him  ye  will  receive." — See  Dr.  Hiklrop  on  Anti- 
christ, p.  120. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    901 

assemblies,  "a  cloud  and  smoke  by  day,  and  tbe  shining  of  a 
flaming  fire  by  night."  (verse  5.)  But  these  scriptures  seem 
to  point  to  a  time  when  there  shall  be  a  siege:  and  Zcchariah 
xiv.  1,  2,  decides  it:  "Behold  the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh,  and 
thy  spoil  shall  be  divided  in  the  midst  of  thee;  for  I  will 
gather  all  nations  against  Jerusalem  to  battle,  and  the  city  shall 
be  taken  and  the  houses  rifled;  and  the  women  ravished;  and 
half  of  the  city  shall  go  forth  into  captivity,  and  the  residue  of 
the  people  shall  not  be  cut  ciff  from  the  citij."  In  Isaiah  x.  is  a 
prophecy  concerning  some  signal  enemy  of  the  Lord's  people, 
under  the  title  of  71ie  Assyrian.  JNIost  expositors  consider  it 
the  same  as  the  wilful  king  of  Daniel  xi,  and  the  Antichrist  of 
the  last  days;  be  this  as  it  may,  the  whole  scope  of  the  pro- 
phecy indicates,  as  well  as  particular  sentences  of  it,  that  it 
chiefly  refers  to  a  period  yet  to  come.  It  seems  that  the 
hypocritical  portion  of  the  nation  shall  lean  upon  this  person- 
age; and  that  the  Lord  by  his  means  shall  afflict  them,  but 
ultimately  turn  his  hand  against  him.  The  expression  in 
verse  20, — ''And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the 
remnant  of  Israel,  and  such  as  are  escaped  of  the  house  of 
Jacob,  shall  no  more  again  stay  upon  him  that  smote  them; 
but  shall  stay  upon  the  Lord,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  in 
truth," — seems  to  justify  the  opinion  of  the  Fathers  before 
mentioned,  that  they  shall  be  seduced  by  the  Antichrist.  And 
the  probability  is,  that  some  political  movement  will  take 
place,  in  accordance  with  the  liberal  spirit  of  the  age,  which 
shall  reinstate  the  Jews  (i.  e.  the  two  tribes)  in  their  own  land; 
and  that  though  there  will  be  among  them  a  people  afflicted 
for  their  sin  and  poor  in  spirit,  whom  the  Lord  will  deliver  as 
an  election  out  of  the  midst  of  them;  yet  the  "strange  chikU'en 
shall  dissemble  with  him,"  and  they  shall  trust  in  princes,  and 
lean  upon  tlie  arm  of  flesh,  and  possibly  again  on  Egypt,  and 
these  are  "the  rebels^'  whom  the  Lord  shall  consume  from  out 
of  the  midst  of  them,  and  purely  purge  away  the  dross  and 
tin  of  the  nation. 

I  consider  the  following  texts  perfectly  reconcileable  with 
the  view  here  taken;  viz. — Ezekiel  xi.  14 — 21;xx.  33— 44; 
xxxvi.  16 — 38;  Zephaniah  iii.  8 — 13;  Zechariah  xil.  1 — 4j 
and  a  careful  consideration  of  them  will  well  repay  the  student 
of  prophecy.  The  only  part  of  them  difficult  to  reconcile  is, 
verse  34,  35,  of  Ezck.  xx.,  where  the  Lord  says,  he  will  ''bring 
them  out  from  the  countries  in  which  they  are  scattered,  with 
a  mighty  hand,  and  with  a  stretched-out  arm,  and  with  fury 
poured  out:  and  I  will  bring  you  into  the  zcildcrncss  of  the 
people,  and  trliere  will  I  plead  with  you  face  to  face;  &c."  but 
17* 


202  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

this  I  conceive  may  belong  to  a  later  period  of  their  deliver- 
ance, which  I  will  next  proceed  to  notice. 

There  is,  as  was  observed  in  the  last  chapter,  an  intimate 
connexion  between  the  restoration  of  Israel,  and  that  tremen- 
dous series  o(  Judgments  by  which  the  Lord  will  contend  with 
and  overthrow  all  nations.  It  comprehends  two  principal 
future  epochs,  with  probably  only  a  very  short  period  between 
them.  In  the  former  the  Jews  themselves  will  be  overtaken 
by  affliction  and  will  dreadfully  suffer.  To  the  first  of  these 
acts  in  the  great  drama  I  apprehend  Jeremiah  xxx.  refers, 
when,  after  declaring  that  the  Lord  will  bring  again  the  capti- 
vity of  Israel  and  Judah,  (v.  3.  4.)  he  adds— "For  thus  saith 
the  Lord:  We  have  heard  a  voice  of  trembling  of  fear,  and 
not  of  peace.  Ask  ye  now,  and  see,  whether  a  tnan  doth  tra- 
vail with  child?  Wherefore  do  I  see  every  man  with  his  hands 
on  his  loins,  as  a  woman  in  travail,  and  all  faces  turned  into 
paleness?  Alas!  for  that  day  is  great,  so  that  none  is  like  it:  it 
is  even  the  time  of  Jacob's  trouble:  but  he  shall  be  saved  out 
of  it."  V.  5 — 7.  This  is  probably  the  commencement, — the 
first  stage,  (as  just  observed)  in  the' tribulation  mentioned  by 
Daniel  xii.  1;  who  says,  "At  that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up, 
the  great  prince  which  standeth  for  the  children  of  thy  people: 
and  there  shall  be  a  time  of  trouble,  such  as  never  was  since 
there  was  a  nation,  even,  to  that  same  time:  and  at  that  time 
thy  people  sliall  be  delivered,  every  one  that  shall  be  found 
written  in  the  book."* 

But  having  thus  purified  them,  and  as  it  would  appear  from 
other  scriptures  appeared  to  them,  (Zech.  xiv.  4)  the  Lord  will 
go  forth  against  those  nations  which  have  congregated  against 
Jerusalem, t  and  a  most  signal  and  awful  destruction  will  ensue; 
which,  though  accompanied  by  miraculous  circumstances,  will 
also  be  in  part  accomplished  by  the  instrumentality  of  Israel 
and  Judah  themselves.  And  now  it  is  I  apprehend  that  a 
portion  of  the  ten  tribes  will  be  brought  out  of  Moab  and 
Ammon,  and  other  places,  and  start  into  existence,  so  that  a 
nation  will  be  born  in  a  day;  the  Lord  as  it  were  going  up  be- 
fore them.it  "In  that  day  the  Lord  will  make  Jerusalem  a  cup 
of  trembling  unto  all  the  people  round  about,  when  they  shall 
be  in  the  siege  both  against  Judah  and  Jerusalem;  and  in  that 
day  will  I  make  Jerusalem  a  burdetisome  stone  for  all  people:  all 

♦  Mr.  Cuninghame  says,  (p.  499)  "There  are  passages  of  the  prophetic 
word  which  unequivocally  indicate  to  us,  that  the  political  resuscitation  of 
Israel  in  the  flesh  is  to  be  (he  event,  which  shall  in  a  peculiar  manner  stir  up 
the  enmity  of  the  powers  of  the  world  and  give  occasion  to  the  mighty  con- 
federacy which  shall  be  broken  at  Armageddon." 

t  Ezek.  xxxix.    Joel  iii.2 — 14. 

t  Isaiah  lii.  G— 12.  Hosea  i.  7.  Micah  ii.  12, 13. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  2Q3 

that  burden  themselves  with  it  shall  be  cut  in  pieces,  though 
all  the  people  of  the  earth  be  gathered  together  against  it." 
Zech.  xii.  2,  3.  <'In  that  day  (saitli  the  Lord)  will  I  make 
the  governors  of  Judah  like  an  hearth  of  fire  among  the  wood, 
and  like  a  torch  of  fire  in  a  sheaf;  and  they  shall  devour  all  the 
people  round  about,  &c.  The  Lord  also  will  save  the  tents*  of 
Judah  first."  V.  G,  7.  *'And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 
that  a  great  tumult  from  the  Lord  shall  be  among  them,  (the 
nations  gathered  round  Jerusalem,)  and  they  shall  lay  hold  every 
one  on  the  hand  of  his  neighbour,  and  his  hand  shall  rise  up 
against  the  hand  of  his  neighbour:  and  Judah  also  shall  fight 
at  Jerusalem."  Zech.  xiv.  13,14.  "And  the  remnant  of  Jacob 
shall  be  among  the  Gentiles  in  the  midst  of  many  people,  as  a 
lion  among  the  beasts  of  the  forests,  as  a  young  lion  among 
the  flocks  of  sheep,  &:c.  Mic.  v.  8.  "Turn  you  to  the  strong 
hold,  ye  prisoners  of  hope:  even  to-day  do  I  declare  that  I 
will  render  double  unto  thee,  when  1  have  bent  Judah  for  me; 
filled  the  bow  with  Ephraim,  (as  arrows)  and  raised  up  thy 
sons,  0  Zion,  against  thy  sons,  0  Greece:"  (Zech.  ix.  12)  "for 
the  Lord  hath  made  Judah  his  goodly  horse  in  the  battle,"  and 
his  "bailie  bow;"  (x.  3,  4)  and  of  Lsrael  he  says,  "Thou  art  my 
battle-axe  and  weapojis  ofzcar;  for  with  thee  will  I  break  in  pieces 
the  nations,  and  with  thee  will  I  destroy  kingdoms."  Jer.  li.  20. 
*Arise,  and  thresh,  0  daughter  of  Zion;  for  I  will  make  thine 
horn  iron,  and  I  will  make  thy  hoofs  brass;  and  thou  shalt  beat 
in  pieces  many  people,  and  I  will  consecrate  their  gain  unto  the 
Lord,  and  their  substance  unto  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth." 
Micah  iv.  13. 

It  were  easy  to  oppress  the  reader  with  passages  of  this  de- 
scription: let  him,  if  he  wishes  for  more,  read  Isaiah  xxxiv. 
xli.  14 — 16;  lix.  16—21.  Ezekiel  xxviii.  24—26.  Haggai 
ii.  21—23.     Obadiah  17,  >8. 

After  this  consumption  decreed  upon  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
Lord  hath  recompensed  them  upon  their  own  pate  for  the  con- 
troversies of  the  nations,  there  will  apparently  take  place  the 
gathering  out  of  all  nations  of  the  rest  of  Israel  or  Judah,  who 
have  not  previously  been  induced  to  come  up. — -"For  I  know 

*  I  quote  lliis  next  line  merely  to  take  the  opportunity  of  observing,  that  I  do 
not  untlerstand  it.  I  at  first  took  up  the  interpretation  I  have  somewhere  met 
with,  that  this  deliverance  was  to  be  in  behalf  of  J(u/«A,  in  preference  to  Israel; 
but  the  reason  p;iven  for  it  in  the  Scripture  is, — that  the  house  of  David  (who 
was  of  Judak)  and  the  glory  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  do  not  magnify 
themselves  against  Judah.  The  key  to  it  is  possibly  verse  5. — "And  the 
governors  of  Judah  shall  say  in  their  heart,  7Vtc  inhabitants  op  Jerusalem 
shall  be  viij  strength,  in  the  Lord  of  hosts  their  God;"  that  is,  independently  of 
these,  who  are  ar  portion  of  Judah  cncamjicd  in  the  vicinity,  or  in  the  open 
towns  and  un walled  villages.     See  E/^ekiel  xxxviii.  11. 


204    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

their  works  and  their  thoughts;  (saith  the  Lord:)  it  shall  come 
that  I  will  gather  all  nations  and  tongues  (the  context  is,  when 
he  shall  "plead  by  fire  and  by  his  sword  with  all  flesh;")  and 
they  shall  come  and  see  my  glory.  And  I  will  set  a  sign 
amongst  them;  and  I  will  send  those  that  escape  of  them  unto 
the  nations,  to  Tarshish,  Pul,  and  Lud  that  draw  the  bow,  to 
Tubal  and  Javan,  to  the  isles  afar  off  that  have  not  heard  my 
fame,  neither  have  seen  my  glory;  and  they  shall  declare  my 
glory  among  the  Gentiles;  and  they  shall  bring  all  your 
brethren  for  an  offering  unto  the  Lord  out  of  all  nations,  upon 
horses  and  in  chariots,  and  in  litters,  (or  coaches,  margin)  and 
upon  mules  and  upon  swift  beasts,  &c.  Isaiah  Ixvi.  18 — 20. 
At  this  juncture  it  is,  I  apprehend,  that  the  tongue  of  the 
Egyptian  sea  will  be  destroyed,  and  a  passage  made  both  in 
the  Euphrates  and  in  the  Nile;"  "and  there  shall  be  an  high- 
way for  the  remnant  of  his  people  zohich  shall  be  left:" — the 
context  shews  that  this  isafterihe  battle.  Isaiah  xi.  15.  Zech. 
X.  11.  And  then  "the  nations  shall  see  and  be  confounded  at 
all  their  might:  they  shall  lay  their  hand  upon  their  mouth, 
their  ears  shall  be  deaf:  they  shall  lick  the  dust  like  a  serpent, 
they  shall  move  out  of  their  holes  like  worms  of  the  earth, 
they  shall  be  afraid  of  the  Lord  our  God,  and  shall  fear  be- 
cause of  thee."  JNIicah  vii.  17.  "The  sons  also  of  them  that 
afflictfcd  thee  shall  come  bending  unto  thee;  and  all  they  that 
despised  thee  shall  bow  themselves  down  at  the  soles  of  thy 
feet;  and  they  shall  call  thee,  The  City  of  the  Lord,  The  Zion 
of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel."  See  also  Isaiah  xlix.  23,  and 
Rev.  iii.  9. 

Of  one  thing,  in  conclusion,  I  must  advertise  the  Reader; 
viz.  that  what  I  have  advanced  under  this  section  of  the  sub- 
ject, is  offered  more  in  the  way  of  suggestion  and  inquiry, 
than  in  the  confidence  of  demonstration.  The  grand  features, 
which  stand  out  in  the  whole  chapter,  of  a  future  literal  resto- 
ration and  purification  botli  of  Judah  and  Ephraim,  together 
with  tremendous  judgments  and  destruction  to  be  poured  out 
upon  the  gentile  nations,  none  can  well  mistake.  The  adjust- 
ment of  details  and  circumstantials  are  necessarily  a  matter  of 
perplexity  and  difficulty  previous  to  the  event.  I  trust,  how- 
ever, that  more  able  and  more  diligent  students  of  God's  word 
will  yet  be  raised  up  to  pursue  this  deeply  interesting  subject, 
and  through  the  blessing  of  God  more  clearly  to  unravel  and 
adjust  its  various  particulars,*  We  may  be  quite  certain  that 
every  little  of  what  God  hath  spoken  will  be  found  strictly 

♦  Amonpr  the  texts  which  I  find  it  difficult  properly  to  place  are  Jer.  xxxi. 
SI— 33,  and  xxxii.  36—41.  But  1  presume  they  refer  to  the  second  stage  in 
the  gathering  of  Israel. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    205 

reconcileable  and  most  exactly  according  with  all  the  other 
minutiae  of  his  revelation.  "All  the  words  of  his  mouth  are 
in  righteousness;  there  is  nothing  froward  or  perverse  in  them; 
they  are  all  plain  Io  him  that  laidcrslamleth,  and  right  to  them 
that  find  knoicleclqc.''     Proverbs  viii.  S,  9. 

In  the  mean  while  there  are  practical  considerations  which 
must  force  themselves  upon  the  attention  of  all  who  believe 
the  word  of  God  in  this  matter.  It  is  evident  that  all  nations, 
not  excepting  our  own  highly  favoured  and  privileged  country, 
will  be  brought  within  the  vortex  of  tliis  tremendous  ''whirl- 
wind;" and  when  the  Lord  shall  no  longer  keep  silence,  but 
arise  to  shake  terribly  the  earth,  we  may  truly  ask: — "Who 
shall  live  when  God  doeth  this?"  "Who  may  abide  the  day 
of  his  coming?  and  who  shall  stand  when  he  appeareth?  for  he 
is  like  a  refiner's  fire,  and  like  fuller's  soap."  Numb.  xxiv. 
23.  ]Mal.  iii.  2.  There  are  some  however,  "who  shall  be 
accoui^ted  worthy  to  escape  all  these  things  that  shall  come  to 
pass,  and  to  stand  before  the  Son  of  JNIan."  Luke  xxi.  36. 
Those  who — as  the  context  of  the  latter  place  informs  us — 
suffer  not  that  day  to  come  upon  them  luiaicares  through  sur- 
feiting and  cares  of  this  life,  but  are  watchful  and  pray  always; 
(verses  34 — 36.)  those  ''who  sigh  and  cry  for  all  the  abomina- 
tions that  are  done  in  the  midst  of  their  church  and  nation;" 
(Ezek.  ix.  4.)  those  "who  fear  the  Lord  and  speak  often  one 
to  another;"  (Mai.  ii.  16.) — on  those  the  Lord  will  set  a  mark, 
and  they  need  not  fear  in  the  days  of  evil,  when  the  iniquity 
of  their  heels  compt^sseth  them  about;"  (Psalm  xlix.  5.)  for 
"they  shall  be  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts  in  that  day  when 
I  make  up  my  jewels;  and  I  will  spare  them,  as  a  man  spareth 
his  own  son  that  serveth  him."    Mai.  ii.  17. 

W^e  are  also  admonished  by  this  subject  of  what  we  owe 
toward  Israel.  It  is  well  worthy  of  note,  \\ow  jealous  the  Lord 
is  in  behalf  of  this  people;  insomuch,  that  though  he  makes 
use  of  a  nation  as  his  rod  to  chastise  Israel,  yet  has  h(5  it  in 
readiness  to  avenge  himself  on  that  same  nation,  if '  they  take 
occasion  therefrom  to  shew  contempt  or  malignity  against 
them.  In  Isa.  xlvii.  6,  he  rebukes  and  threatens  the  Chal- 
deans— because  "I  was  wroth  with  my  people,  I  have  polluted 
mine  inheritance,  and  given  them  into  thine  hand:  thou  didst 
shew  iJiem  no  mercy;  upon  the  ancient  hast  thou  very  heavily 
laid  the  yoke." — "Therefore  shall  evil  come  upon  thee,"  &c. 
ver.  11.  So  in  Zech.  i.  15,  the  Lord  says,  "I  am  very  sore 
displeased  with  the  heathen  that  are  at  ease,  [the  context  indi- 
cates that  they  are  easy  in  regard  to  the  oppression  and  desti- 
tute condition  of  Israel;]  for  I  was  but  a  little  displeased,  and 
they  helped  forward  the  affliction."     The  prophet  then  has  an 


206    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

assurance,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  Lord  will  yet  comfort 
Zion,  and  will  yet  choose  Jerusalem,  (ver.  17;)  and  then  he 
sees  four  horns,  which  are  explained  to  be  symbols  of  the  four 
powers  that  have  scattered  Judah,  Israel,  and  Jerusalem;  and 
he  sees  four  carpenters,  who  come  to  fray  them,  and  to  cast 
out  the  horns  of  the  gentiles,  which  lifted  up  their  horn  over 
the  land  of  Judah,  to  scatter  it.  Ver.  16—24.  This  should 
lead  us  to  fear,  lest  we  should  be  involved  in  those  judgments 
which  will  fall  upon  the  nations,  when  the  Lord  holds  his  con- 
troversy with  them  for  these  things.  We  may  not  be  able  to 
avert  vengeance  from  the  nation;  but  we  can  at  least  act,  indi- 
vidually, as  Rahab  did;  who,  foreseeing  the  wrath  that  was 
coming  on  her  own  people,  and  moved  by  fear,  conciliated  the 
Lord  in  good  time,  by  shewing  kindness  to  his  people.  And 
they  appear  to  be  now  thrown  in  our  way,  and  brought  as  it 
were  to  every  man's  door,  (for  where  is  the  nation  that  has 
not  Jews  scattered  among  them?)  on  purpose  to  put  to  tiie  test 
our  bowels  of  compassion  towards  them.  And  if,  on  the  one 
hand,  there  is  need  to  fear  the  jealousy  of  the  Lord  if  we  de- 
spise or  neglect  them,  we  may,  on  the  other  hand,  be  assured 
of  his  favour,  if,  out  of  love  to  Him,  we  do  them  good.  In 
regard  to  Israel,  it  is  still,  '^Blessed  is  he  that  blesseth  thee,  and 
cursed  is  he  that  curseth  thee."  Numb.  xxiv.  9.  And  with 
the  exhortation  to  "pnay  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  w^e  have 
the  gracious  assurance — they  shall  prosper  that  love 
THEE."  Psalm  cxxii.  6. 

4.  There  still  remains  a  point  for  consideration  which  must 
be  the  subject  of  another  section,  viz. — what  will  be  the  glory 
of  the  new  Jerusalem  dispensation;  and  what  participation 
will  the  saints  who  are  already  gathered  to  their  fathers  have 
in  it. 

(1.)  It  is  evident  from  a  multitude  of  scriptures,  that  the 
glory  of  Israel  will  now  be  pre-eminent;  and  that  all  that  has 
been  excellent  and  holy  in  every  preceding  dispensation  to 
mankind  will  be  concentrated  in  this,  with  a  very  great  in- 
crease of  it. 

To  them  shall  come  the  first  dominion  among  the  nations, 
(Mic.  iv.  8)  and  the  whole  forces  of  the  Gentiles  will  then 
flow  to  Zion,  (Isa.  Ix.  5,  7)  and  she  shall  clothe  herself  with 
them  as  a  bride  putteth  on  her  attire,  (Isa.  xlix.  IS)  and  kings 
shall  be  nursing  fathers,  and  queens  nursing  mothers  to  her, 
(ibid.  V.  23.)  Then  shall  be  realized,  in  the  fullest  sense  of 
the  term,  a?i  universal  empire;  and  that  which  has  been  the  de- 
sire of  all  nations  (viz.  righteous  and  secure  government,  see 
p.  155)  shall  then  be  enjoyed;  for  her  counsellors  and  judges 
and  princes  will  be  righteous,  and  all  her  minor  officers  and 


ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  QQ? 

exactors  peace  and  righteousness;  (Isa.  xxxii.  1,  Ix.  17;  Jer. 
XXX.  21,)  and  all  things  will  be  consecrated  to  Jehovah;  so 
that  from  the  very  pots  used  in  their  domestic  aflairs,  to  the 
bells  wiiich  tinkle  on  their  horses,  it  shall  be  "hulitiess  to  the 
Lord.''  Zech.  xii.  20.  Their  kingdom  is  one  that  cannot  be 
moved;  (Heb.  xii.  28.)  and  in  it  there  shall  be  stability  and 
strength  of  salvation.      Isa.  xxxiii.  G. 

And  as  they  shall  have  universal  empire,  so  also  will  they 
obtain  another  great  desideratum  among  the  humble  followers 
of  God,  viz.  coTifonnitij  in  church  [^oveniment — Jerusalem  will 
be  as  a  city  that  is  at  unity  in  itself;  and  all  the  nations  shall 
come  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  to  worship;  (Isa, 
ii.  2;  JNIicah  iv.  2;  Zech.  viii.  23;) — and  of  Israel  will  the 
Lord  take  for  priests  and  Levites,  and  make  them  the  minis- 
ters among  all  nations,  (Isa.  Ixi.  G;  Ixvi.  21.)  "And  in  that 
day  there  shall  be  one  Lord,  and  his  name  one."  Zech. 
xiv.  9. 

And  as  they  have  been  put  to  rebuke,  and  have  been  a  pro- 
verb and  a  hiss  among  all:  so  the  Lord  will  "get  them  fame  in 
every  land  where  they  have  been  put  to  shame."  Zeph.  iii.  19. 
"All  that  see  them  shall  acknowledge  that  they  are  the  seed 
whom  the  Lord  hath  blessed;"  (Isa.  Ixi.  9)  and  he  will  make 
them  a  blessing, — yea  "shozccrs  of  blessing"  to  the  nations; 
(Ezek.  xxxv.  26;  Zech.  viii.  13)  so  that  the  receiving  of  them 
shall  indeed  prove  as  life  from  the  dead.     Rom.  xi.  15. 

It  has  been  stated  in  the  previous  section,  from  Zech.  xiv. 
4,  5,  that  the  Lord  will  personulhj  appear  again  at  this  time: 
this  is  further  evident  from  Rom.  xi.  2G,  where  St.  Paul, 
speaking  of  the  restoration  and  conversion  of  the  Jews  says, 
"And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved;  as  it  is  written — There 
shall  come  out  of  Zion  the  Deliverer,  and  shall  turn  away  un- 
godliness from  Jacob:  for  tjiis  is  my  covenant  with  them  when 
I  take  away  their  sins."  The  quotation  is  from  Isaiah  lix.  20, 
and  the  connexion  is,  the  great  previous  deliverance  experi- 
enced "when  the  enemy  comes  in  like  a  flood;"  and' the  "fury 
to  his  adversaries  and  recompense  to  his  enemies,  which  the 
Lord  now  repays."  Verse  17,  19.  "When  the  Lord  shall 
build  up  Zion,  he  shall  appear  in  his  glory."  Psalm  cii.  16. 
And  then  shall  he  himself  be  governor  among  the  nations,  and 
King  over  all  the  earth.  Psalm  xxii.  28.  Jer.  xxx.  9.  Ezek. 
xxxiv.  24;  xxxvii.  24,  25. 

It  is  not,  as  I  apprehend,  until  this  complete  restoration  or 
conversion  of  Israel,  confirmed  i)y  the  decree  and  secured  by 
the  mighty  deliverance  of  the  Great  King,  that  the  land  will 
be  finally  divi^led,  and  that  city  and  temple  built  which  is  to 
remain.     The  previous  proceedings  have  apparently  been  un- 


208  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

authorized  and  self-willed,  not  to  say  rebellious,  and  in  depen- 
dance  on  the  counsel  and  assistance  of  apostate  men.  It  is  not 
till  after  the  tribulation  that  they  receive  the  divine  fiat  to 
build  houses  and  inhabit  them,  and  to  plant  vineyards  and  eat 
the  fruit  thereof.  Isaiah  xliv.  26;  Ixv.  21.  Ezek.  xxviii.  26. 
Then  will  they  inherit  the  land  (as  the  Rev.  T.  Scott  admits, 
in  his  "Restoration  of  Israel")  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the 
grants  made  to  the  patriarchs." 

Its  great  boundaries  will  be  the  Mediterranean,  the  Nile, 
and  the  Euphrates,  including  Philistia,  Moab,  Amnion,  Arabia, 
Idumea,  Goshen,  and  other  places  not  before  possessed,  (Gen. 
XV.  13 — 21.  Exod.  xxiii.  31.  Deut.  xi.  22.*)  The  division  is 
altogether  different  from  that  made  by  Joshua,  or  that  enjoyed 
after  the  return  from  the  captivity.  And  as  the  land  is  thus 
extended,  so  also  will  it  be  renewed — probably  by  the  operation 
oi  fire,  so  that  it  will  bring  forth  abundantly.'!  And  in  it  will 
be  rebuilt  the  city  and  temple  of  Jerusalem,  promises  of  which 
are  contained  in  Jer.  xxx.  18,21;  xxxi.  38 — 40;  xxxiii.  10, 
11.  Zech.  xii.  6,  &c. ;  and  also  in  Ezekiel,  of  which  place  there 
will  be  occasion  to  speak  presently.  Tlie  temple  descril)ed  by 
Ezekiel  is  evidently  not  like  that  built  by  Solomon;  for  Solo- 
mon's was  contained  in  a  square  of  60  cubits,  whereas  Ezekiel's 
will  cover  a  square  of  500  cubits. 

Some  have  supposed  that  there  will  be  literally  a  restoration 
of  sacrifices,  (as  Mr.  Tyso,  Mr.  Begg,  and  tlie  editor  of  the 
Morning  Watch;)  and  there  is  very  much  in  Ezekiel's  account 
of  the  matter  which  can  scarcely  be  explained  but  upon  this 
hypothesis:  nor  does  there,  when  it  is  duly  considered,  appear 
anything  inconsistent  with  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  that  those 
sacrifices,  which  before  the  Lord's  coming  set  forth  his  pre- 
cious bloodshedding  prospeclivehj,  should  after  the  Jews  are  re- 
stored set  it  forth  relrospeclivcly,  in  the  same  manner  as  it  is 
even  now  actually  set  forth  in  the  Lord's  Supper:  "for  as  oft 
as  we  eat  of  tiiat  bread  and  drink  of  that  cup,  we  do  show  forth 
the  Lord's  death  till  he  come."  Nevertheless,  there  are  great 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  this  hypothesis;  for  not  only  is  there 
much  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  Hebrews,  which  ap- 
pears incompatible  with  it, — so  that  the  resumption  of  sacrifices 
would  look  like  a  return  to  the  "beggarly  elements"  from 

•  See  for  further  particulars,  Home's  Introduction,  vol.  iii.  t).  4—6.  The 
Egyptian  name  for  the  Nile  is  simply  P/uaro,  ovlhc  river.  (Modem  Traveller, 
vol.  i.  p.  C.) 

t  Isaiah  xxix.  17;  xxxv.  1—9;  li.  3,  IG;  liv.  11— IH;  Iv.  12,  13;  Ix.  17;  Ixv. 
17,  25.  Ezek.  xxxiv.  2(5,  27;  xxxvi.  37.  Joel  iii.  18.  Amos.  ix.  13.  Other  great 
physical  means  will  then  apparently  be  brought  into  operation  to  produce  the 
miraculous  drying  up  of  the  rivers,  the  bursting  forth  of  a  new  river  at  Jeru- 
salem, the  rending  of  the  rocks,  &c.  (Zech.  xiv.) 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    299 

which  the  church  has  been  delivered;  but  many  things  in 
Ezekiel's  own  description  of  the  matter  appear  inexplicabie  on 
this  ground.  For  example,  it  is  admitted  that  the  temple  de- 
scribed by  him,  in  which  these  sacrifices  were  to  be  ofiered, 
was  not  erected  in  his  days,  nor  indeed  ever  yet  has  been. 
Yet  the  prophet  was  required  to  show  the  whole  pattern  of  the 
house,  with  its  forms  and  ordinances,  to  the  people  of  his  own 
day,  in  order  that  they  might  keep  the  whole  furm  and  ordi- 
7iances  thereof  and  do  them.  Chap,  xliii.  10,  11,  And  Ezekiel 
was  himself  commanded  to  take  the  seed  of  Zadoc,  and  with 
them  officiate  in  the  offerings  and  sacrifices.  Ver.  IS — 27.  But 
we  are  nowhere  informed  that  either  he  or  they  did  so:  and  if 
it  be  supposed  to  refer  to  Ezekiel  and  the  sons  of  Zadoc  in 
their  resurrection  state,  there  are  directions  which  seem  in- 
compatible with  that  condition; — as  for  example,  verse  IS. 

(2.)  We  have  further  to  inquire,  as  regards  this  point,  how 
far  the  literal  restoration  of  Judah  and  Israel,  if  accompanied 
by  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  his 
bringing  the  saints  with  him, — in  other  words,  by  the  resur- 
rection of  the  saints  which  sleep,  and  the  transformation  of  the 
living  saints, — is  reconcilable  with  that  event.  This  is  a  ques- 
tion which  likewise  involves  some  difficulty,  arising  from  the 
incredulousness  and  prejudice  of  our  minds  in  regard  to  details. 
I  do  not  however  see  any  real  difficulty  in  the  matter.  For  as 
to  the  mere  objection  against  an  intercourse  between  men  in 
the  flesh,  and  men  risen  from  the  dead,  on  account  of  its  being 
derogatory  to  the  glory  and  happiness  of  the  latter,  it  scarcely 
needs  any  remark,  seeing  that  angel.'^-  have  frequently  com- 
muned with  men,  and  are  made  ministering  spirits  to  them, 
(Heb.  i.  14.)  whilst  yet  we  cannot  conceive  that  it  subtracts  in 
any  degree  from  their  hapj)iness,  but  rather  adds  to  it.  And 
as  therefore  we  have  seen,  irf  the  second  chapter  of  this  work, 
that  there  are  distinct  promises  that  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
and  the  cloud  of  witnesses  who  have  obtained  a  good  report 
through  faith,  are  to  inherit  the  land,  and  the  city  which  God 
hath  prepared  for  them,  and  which  hath  the  foundations  which 
cannot  be  moved,  (Heb.  xi.  9,  10,  IG.)  there  is  no  reasonable 
ground  to  question  that  these  promises  will  be  made  good  to 
them  in  the  resurrection:  which  we  have  also  seen  was  the 
opinion  of  the  Jewish  and  of  the  ancient  Ciiristian  church. 

At  the  same  time,  however,  I  do  not  conceive,  that  the  lot 
will  be  the  same  of  what  I  call  the  saints  of  tlie  resurrection 
portion  of  the  church,  and  tliat  portion  of  Israel  which  is  re- 
deemed in  the  Jlesh;  and  which  redemption  I  hold  will  most 
probably  be  sub^efjitent  in  time  to  the  resurrection  of  the  saints, 
and  the  rapture  of  the  living  saints  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 

VOL.   II. 18 


210    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

air;  seeing  that  the  Lord  descends  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives 
prior  to  the  final  gathering  of  Israel  from  all  corners  of  the 
earth;  and  that  a  resurrection  of  many  of  them  that  sleep  in 
the  dust  is  mentioned  as  in  immediate  connexion  with  the  un- 
paralleled tribulation.*  Zech.  xiv.  Dan.  xii.  2.  The  very  cir- 
cumstance that  the  former  are  possessed  of  spiritual  bodies, — 
yea  oi glorified  bodies  (Phil.  iii.  21) — at  once  points  out  a  mani- 
fest distinction.  But  when  we  farther  take  into  consideration 
the  promise  made  to  the  apostles,  that  they  should,  in  the  re- 
generation, sit  at  the  table  of  Christ,  and  also  sit  on  thrones 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  (Luke  xxii.  30,  31,  and 
compare  Matt.  xix.  28,)  it  appears  that  there  is  to  be  a  dis- 
tinguishing glory  put  upon  some  by  a  nearness  to  the  person 
of  Christ,  and  by  a  dominion  also  over  others.  And  seeing 
that  in  one  place  the  reward  given  to  the  faithful  servants  of 
Christ  is  likened  to  the  having  authority  over  ten  cities  and 
five  cities,  (Luke  xix.  17,  19,)  it  would  appear  that  a  pre- 
eminent judgment  or  dominion  over  the  whole  world  will 
probably  be  given  to  all  the  saints  who  are  then  raised;  which 
agrees  with  what  is  written  in  various  scriptures  on  this  head. 
Compare  Rev.  ii.  26.  27;  iii.  21;  vi.  2;  xx.  4.  Dan.  vii.  22, 
27.  I  do  not  consider,  however,  that  either  Jesus  or  the  saints 
will  alzvays  be  manifested  to  the  world  in  their  glorified  bodies; 
but  only  at  certain  times,  and  perhaps  only  at  Jerusalem, 
whither  the  nations  will  go  up  to  worship;  and  none  will  have 
a  right  to  enter  tha-e,  but  what  are  made  holy,  (Isaiah  Hi.  1; 
xxi.  27;  xxii.  14.)  It  was  only  at  times  that  the  kings  of  Israel 
sat  in  the  gate  in  their  royal  apparel  to  give  judgment:  and 

♦  I  am  happy  to  concur  in  this  matter  with  Mr.  Cuninghame,  who  has 
given  so  much  attention  to  the  study  of  prophecy,  and  who  discusses  it  in  gene- 
ral with  so  much  ability.  He  says,  in  the  last  edition  of  his  work  on  the 
Apocalypse:  ''When  I  published  the  former  editions  of  this  work,  not  having 
seen  the  distinction  in  lime  between  the  advent  of  our  Lord  in  the  air,  and  his 
descent  to  the  earth  in  the  day  of  Armageddon,  I  conceived  that  the  restora- 
tion of  Judah  was  to  precede  {he  Advent.  I  now  believe  that  this  restoration 
is  to  begin  just,  at  the  rapture  of  the  saints;  and  that  they  are  to  be  led  through 
the  wilderness  as  formerly  by  "the  pillar  of  a  cloud  by  day,  and  of  fire  by  night, 
without  knowing  their  conductor  as  the  crucified  Nazarene."    Page  402. 

Though  the  adjustment  of  the  farts  which  I  have  been  led  to  make  is  in 
some  slight  degree  different  from  that  of  this  eminent  writer,  I  will  neverthe- 
less add  a  further  extract  for  the  information  of  the  reader:" — "That  the  Lord 
himself  is  to  lead  Israel  through  the  ?ri/fZc?7ics.s,  and  plead  with  them  face  to 
face,  appears  evident  from  Micah  ii.  12,  13;  and  vii.  15 — 17,  compared  with 
Ezekiel  xx.  33— ."H:  yet  from  Zech.  xii.  10.  it  is  apparent  that  the  discovery  of 
the  crucified  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  as  their  conductor  and  guide,  belongs  to  a 
later  period.  That  the  appearance  also  described  in  the  last  passage  is  a  dif- 
ferent one  from  the  former  is  manifest  for  two  reasons;  first,  it  is  in  another 
place,  viz.  Jerusalem;  whereas  the  former  was  in  the  wilderness.  Ezek.  xx. 
55.  Secondly,  it  is  at  a  later  period;  viz.  after  their  restoration  to  their  own 
land,  and  when  the  confederacy  of  the  nations  shall  have  come  against  Jeru- 
salem; whereas  the  former  was  before  the  restoration." 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    Oil 

only  at  limes  that  the  glory  of  the  Lord  was  visibly  seen  over 
the  tabernacle  or  filling  the  temple. 

I  beg  however  to  advertise  tiie  reader  in  this  matter,  in  the 
same  way  that  I  did  in  respect  to  a  portion  of  the  last  section; 
viz. — that  I  offer  these  things  by  no  means  with  a  decided  con- 
viction that  I  clearly  seethe  proper  adjustment  and  exj^lication 
of  all  the  particulars;  but  as  suggestions  offered  by  the  scrip- 
tures themselves,  and  whicli  seem  to  bear  the  aspect  which  is 
here  given  to  them.  There  is  however  one  other  considera- 
tion which  may  serve  to  throw  liglit  upon  the  subject,  and 
which  is  a  point  that  has  been  greatly  overlooked  by  many  of 
those  who  have  endeavoured  to  explain  the  last  chapters  of 
Ezekiel: — it  is — that  there  are  actually  two  cities  there  de- 
scribed, though  often  confounded  as  one; — and  the  more  ex- 
cellent one  of  them  remarkably  accords  with  the  description  in 
Rev.  xxi.  and  xxii.,  and  is  presumed  to  be  that  in  which  the 
Lord  and  the  saints  will  be  more  immediately  manifested.  I 
take  not  on  me  to  decide  this  matter,  but  will  present  to  the 
reader  the  words  of  Mr.  Begg,  who  has  written  on  the  subject 
very  ably  in  his  work  on  the  Advent. 

"But  in  this  division  [of  the  lands]  is  to  be  noticed  another 
and  most  remarkable  circumstance.  Besides  the  ancient  city 
of  Jerusalem  which  is  to  be  rebuilt,  and  in  which  the  sanc- 
tuary of  the  Lord  is  to  be  re-erected,  particular  mention  is  here 
made  of  another  cilij  of  nearly  ten  miles  square,  separated  by 
the  portion  of  the  Levites,  twenty  miles  in  breadth,  from  that 
in  which  the  sanctuary  is  placed:  *'And  the  five  thousand  that 
are  left  in  the  breadtli,  over  against  the  five  and  twenty  thou- 
sand, shall  be  a  profane  place  for  The  Citv,  for  dwelling  and 
for  suburbs,  arid  the  city  shall  be  in  the  midst  thereof  Ezek. 
xlviii.  15.  The  measurement  of  this  city  with  its  suburbs  fol- 
low, and  it  is  added, — "And  the  residue  in  length,  over  against 
the  oblation  of  the  holy  portion,  shall  be  ten  thousand  eastward 
and  ten  thousand  westward,  and  it  shall  be  over  against  the 
oblation  of  the  holy  portion;  and  the  increase  thereof  shall  be 
for  food  unto  them  that  serve  The  City.  And  they  that  serve 
the  city  shall  serve  it  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel."  Ezek.  xlviii. 
15 — 19.  These  three  compartments,  into  which  the  holy  ob- 
lation is  divided,  consisting  of  two  of  ten  thousand  reeds  each 
in  breadth,  and  one  of  five  thousand,  all  being  of  equal  length, 
render  it  in  the  whole  a  square  ofjfly  miles:  "All  the  oblation 
shall  be  five  and  twenty  thousand  by  five  and  twenty  thou- 
sand; ye  shall  offer  the  Holy  Oblation  four  square  with  the 
possession  of  tlie  city."  Ver.  20. 

"This  remaj-kable  allotment  offered  to  the  Lord,  it  is  to  be 
observed,  is  situated  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  different  por- 


212    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

tions  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  "between  the  border  of  Judah 
and  the  border  of  Benjamin,"  and  it  is  said  "shall  be  for  The 
Princk."  After  describing  the  boundaries  of  the  remaining 
five  tribes  of  Israel  (the  relative  situation  of  which  is  also  dif- 
ferent from  what  they  were  formerly,)  and  again  adverting  to 
the  measurements  of  this  remarkable  city,  with  the  number 
and  names  of  its  gates,  tlie  prophecy  closes  by  declaring  of  it, 
that  "The  na7ne  of  The  City  from  that  day  shall  be  called, 
The  Lord  is  there."  " 

In  another  chapter  the  same  author  continues:  "  "And  I, 
John,  saw  the  holy  city.  New  Jerusalem,  comiug  down  from 
God  OUT  of  heavefi  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  hus- 
band." This  celestial  city  is  designed  as  the  residence  of 
Christ  and  the  redeemed,  and  comes  down  out  of  heaven 
where  it  is  previously  '^prepared,"  and  where  it  is  now  ^'re- 
served'" for  this  purpose.*  "And  I  heard',"  continues  the 
apostle,  "a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying,  Behold  the  taber- 
nacle of  God  is  WITH  MEN,  a?}d  He  rciU  dwell  with  them, 
and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with 
them  and  be  their  God."  Ver.  3.  This  we  apprehend  is  that 
second  city  seen  in  vision  by  Ezekiel,  in  the  holy  oblation 
oiSered  to  the  Lord  in  the  new  division  of  the  holy  land.  He 
calls  it  'Hhe  Most  Holy  place"  and  mord  frequently  "The  City.'^ 

"There  are  many  coincidences  in  the  account  given  of  it  by 
John  with  that  of  Ezekiel.  Of  the  names  of  its  gates  the  pro- 
phet says,  "And  the  gates  of  the  city  shall  be  after  the  names 
of  the  tribes  of  Israel;"  and  he  particularizes  the  respective  situ- 
ations of  the  different  gates  by  name.  Ver.  31 — 34.  The  new 
Jerusalem,  as  seen  by  the  apostle  has  also  tzcclve  gates,  "and 
names  written  thereon,  which  are  the  names  of  the  tzcelve  tribes 
of  the  children  of  Israel."  Rev.  xxi.  12.  The  arrarti^ement  of 
these  gates  is  also  precisely  the  same  with  that  given  by  Eze- 
kiel, viz.  "  on  the  east  three  gates,  &c."  Ver.  13.  This  city 
has  an  attendance  enjoyed  by  no  other;  for  "they  that  serve  the 
city  shall  serve  it  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel;"  and  a  portion 
of  the  holy  oblation  is  allotted  for  their  maintenance.!  Verse 
IS,  19.  Of  the  nezv  river  (before  referred  to)  Ezekiel  says, 
upon  the  bank  thereof,  on  this  side  and  that  side,  shall  grow 
all  trees  for  meat,  whose  leaf  shall  not  fade,  neither  shall  the 

*  The  expressions  "prepared^'  "reserved"  plainly  have  reference,  where  the 
apostle  uses  them,  and  also  in  the  four  last  chapters  of  Revelation,  to  the  saints, 
who  are  also  the  house  and  city  of  God.  So  that  it  is  the  inhabitants  of  the  city 
whom  St.  John,  (as  I  take  it)  sees  descend;  though  he  afterwards  proceeds  to 
describe  the  fabric  of  their  habitation. 

t  A  parallel  to  this  feature  seems  to  have  been  intended  by  Mr.  Begg,  but 
accidentally  omitted;  unless  he  views  the  fruit  of  the  trees  being  given  for 
mcat^  iu  the  next  parallel,  to  apply  to  this  also. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    213 

fruit  thereof  be  consumed;  it  shall  bring  forth  new  fruit,  ac- 
cording to  his  montlis,  because  their  waters  they  issued  from 
the  sanctuary.  And  the  fruit  thereof  shall  be  for  meat,  and 
the  leaf  thereof  for  medicine.  Ezek.  xlvii.  12.  So  John  also 
narrates  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  that  in  the  midst  of  the  street 
of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the  river,  was  there  the  tree  of  life 
(not  one  tree  merely,  since  it  grew  "on  either  side  of  the  river," 
but  many  trees  of  one  species,)  which  bare  twelve  manner  of 
fruits,  and  yielded  her  fruit  everij  month,  and  the  leaves  of  the 
tree  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations."  Rev.  xxii.  2.  How 
striking  is  the  coincidence! 

"That  the  apostle  miglit  h.ave  a  full  view  of  the  wonderful 
city,  there  came  unto  him  an  angel  who  carried  him  away  "in 
the  spirit  to  a  great  and  high  mountain,  and  showed  him  that 
great  city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  descending  out  of  heaven  from 
God;  and  her  light  was  like  unto  a  stone  most  precious,  even 
like  a  jasper  stone,  clear  as  crystal,  and  had  a  zcall  great  atid 
high,  and  had  twelve  gates,"  (v.  10 — 12.)  A  similar  coinci- 
dence exists  in  their  ditferent  accounts  of  the  measitremetUs  of 
the  city  they  severally  describe.  In  all  the  works  we  have 
seen  which  treat  of  this  point,  a  great  discrepancy  is  indeed 
supposed  to  exist  between  the  statement  of  the  prophet  and 
that  of  the  apostle.  But  this  mistake  has  arisen  from  an  over- 
sight of  the  fact,  that  while  the  one  states  the  circitmferefice,  the 
other  informs  us  of  the  square  measurement.  Ezekiel  says, 
"It  was  round  about  eighteen  thousand  measures"  of  tlie  angel's 
reed,  was  in  length  "six  great  cubits"  of  twenty-two  inches 
each.  Being  a  square,  each  "stV/e"  was  "four  thousand  and  five 
hundred  measures"  of  the  reed.  Ezek.  xxxviii.  32.  But  John, 
in  his  measurements,  does  not  specify  its  length  or  breadth,  but 
having  mentioned  that  it  is  square,  he  gives  the  measurement 
accordingly.  "And  the  cjty  \\Q\h  four-square,  and  the  length 
is  as  large  as  the  breadth.  And  he  (the  angel)  measured  the  city 
with  the  reed, /u-eZ-je  thousand  furlongs.  The  length  and  ^  the 
breadth  and  the  height  of  it  are  equal."  Rev.  xxi.  16,  17.  It 
was  not  the  length,  or  breadth,  or  height,  which  the  angel 
measured.  These  indeed  he  declares  to  be  "■equal,^'  but  the 
12,000  furlongs,  instead  of  being  the  dimensions  of  each  or 
an])  of  its  sides,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  are  "the  measure- 
ment of  the  city" — 'four-square.^^  We  consider  this,  there- 
fore, as  neither  the  length  nor  the  breadth,  but  as  the  measure- 
ment of  the  area  of  the  city;  and  reckoning  by  the  Jewish 
furlong  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  two-fifth  cubits,  as  stated 
by  Maimonides,  on  extracting  the  square  of  the  measurement 
of  the  circumference  of  the  city  given  by  Ezekiel,  we  obtain 
a  view  by  which  the  statements  of  the  prophet  and  apostle 
IS* 


214     ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

are  found  to  correspond  very  nearly, — and  which  would  pro- 
bably correspond  exactly,  if  the  standard  of  Maimonides  were 
perfectly  accurate, — thus  confirming  the  view  of  their  identity." 
Page  160. 

To  this  temple  JVIr.  Begg  finally  refers  Rev.  xxi.  7.  Ezek. 
xxxvii.  25 — 27, 1  Peter  i.  4,  Rev.  iii.  12;  and  he  thus  concludes 
the  chapter — <'Much  confusion  has  resulted  from  applying  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  new  earth  the  character  of  the  citizens  of 
the  new  Jerusalem  which  descends  out  of  heaven  unto  it. 
The  distinction  is  obvious.  While  in  the  new  earth  Isaiah 
predicts  there  shall  be  both  sin  and  death,  the  apostle  John 
declares  the  exclusion  of  both  from  the  holy  city.  Again,  from 
the  account  of  the  descent  of  the  new  Jerusalem  being  placed 
in  John's  vision  after  that  of  the  final  resurrection  and  judg- 
ment, it  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  place  of  blessed- 
ness after  the  millennium.  But  the  order  of  insertion  is  of 
itself  no  criterion  of  the  order  of  time.  The  apostle  gives  in 
succession  different  views;  and  when  he  has  carried  forward, 
his  narrative  of  one  class  or  series  of  events,  he  returns  to 
take  up  another,  or  to  explain  pairticular  parts  which  would 
have  occupied  too  much  space  in  the  narrative  itself.  The 
whole  book  is  constructed  on  this  principle;  and  thus  (as  re- 
spects the  order  of  the  chapters,)  long  after  the  announcement 
of  the  kingdoms  of  th^is  world  having  become  the  kingdom  of 
our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,  we  have  again  brought  before  us 
the  existence  and  success  of  antichrist.  But,  in  all  such  cases, 
keys  are  given  for  the  elucidation  of  the  prophecy,  and  for 
determining  the  relative  period  of  the  several  parts.  In  the 
case  before  us,  the  new  Jerusalem  descends  to  the  neio  earth, 
and  this  is  connected  with  the  millennmm  by  the  prediction  of 
the  prophet  Isaiah.  Its  relation  to  time  and  the  things  of  time 
is  farther  evident  from  the  fact,  that  the  kings  of  the  earth  do 
bring  their  glory  and  honour  into  it:  "it  must  therefore  be 
upon  the  earth,  that  they  may  have  access  unto  it;  and  it  must 
have- a  reference  to  this  world  while  the  relation  subsists  be- 
tween kings  and  their  subjects."     Page  1G2. 

There  is  much  in  the  last  passage  extracted  which  appears 
just;  especially  as  it  refers  to  the  order  of  the  insertion  of  an 
event  in  the  Apocalypse  not  being  any  criterion  of  tlie  order  of 
time  in  which  it  will  be  fulfilled.  But  this  is  not  the  whole  of 
the  dilficulty  which  attends  the  interpretation  of  the  two  last 
chapters  of  the  Apocalypse.  There  are  internal  indices  which 
seem  to  point  to  a  later  period  of  time  for  the  fulfilment  of 
what  they  describe;  (i.  e.  down  to  verse  5  of  chap,  xxii.) 
though  some  of  these  Mr.  Begg  gets  over  by  means  of  his 
system  of   interpretation,   which   confines  the  promise,  that 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    215 

there  shall  be  no  more  death,  and  the  statement,  that  the  apostle 
saw  no  temple  therein,  to  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of 
"the  city"  as  distin<j;iiishcd  from  those  of  ancient  Jerusalem, 
whicii  is  to  be  rebuilt  "on  its  own  heap,"  or  ancient  site.  Jer. 
XXX.  IS.  Still,  it  does  not  account  for  another  circumstance; 
viz,  that  in  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth  which  are  at  that 
time  created,  there  is  "no  more  sea;"  (Rev.  xxi.  L)  whereas 
the  sea  is  existing  up  to  the  latest  period  of  the  previous 
chapter;  since  it  gives  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it,  at  the 
judgment  therein  described.*  Verse  13.  "Moreover,  those  who 
sit  on  the  thrones  in  chapter  xx.  4,  live  and  reign  with  Christ 
a  thousand  years;  whereas  it  is  said  of  those  in  the  New  Jeru- 
salem of  chapters  xxi.  and  xxii.  "and  they  shall  reign  forever 
and  ever."  It  is  very  evident  also,  from  1  Cor.  xv.  2  1 — 28, 
that  the  state  which  immediately  follows  "the  first  resurrec- 
tion" is  one  which  is  only  introductory  to  a  more  complete 
and  still  more  glorious  one,  wherein  God  shall  be  all  in  all. 
This  I  have  before  adverted  to  at  page  139;  and  if  I  enter  not 
here  into  a  more  particular  description  of  that  ultimate  state  of 
glory,  it  is  because  1  think  there  is  scarcely  any  thing  revealed 
concerning  it,  from  which  an  accurate  judgment  can  be  formed 
of  details  by  us  who  live  under  the  present  dispensation.  It 
has  been  the  manner  of  God,  under  every  distinct  dispensa- 
tion, to  give  additional  revelation  calculated  to  throw  light 
upon  the  existing  and  succeeding  one.  Thus  an  immense  and 
accumulative  light  kept  growing  up  by  means  of  the  prophets 
from  the  time  of  Moses,  until  the  return  from  Babylon;  and  a 
great  further  illumination  of  the  church  took  place  from  the 
time  of  Christ  until  John  received  the  Apocalypse;  and  I 
doubt  not,  but  when  the  next  dispensation  is  introduced,  there 
will  still  be  an  increase  of  revelation,  which  will  throw  further 
light  upon  the  millennial,  and  ultimate  states.  Indeed  Joel  ii. 
28,  has  yet  to  be  farther  accomplished:  "I  will  pour  out  my 
Spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall 
propiiesy,  your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams,  your  young  men 
shall  see  visions;"  and  the  whole  nature  of  a  dispensation,  in 

*  It  makes  no  difference  as  regards  this  point,  whether  the  expression  sea 
is  to  be  understood  as  a  symbol  or  literally.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for 
interprclinj-  it  symbolically  in  the  one  place,  and  literally  in  the  other:  both 
must  be  alike;  and  in  that  case  there  is  apparently  a  marked  distinction  be- 
tween the  stale  described  in  the  one  chapter  and  the  other.  Dr.  Whitby, 
whose  sentiments  on  some  points  of  prophecy  are  singular,  views  the  whole  as 
figurative.  He  considers  Rev.  x.xi.  1 — 5,  as'parallel  with  Isaiah  Ixv.  17,  and 
xliii.  18,  19;  and  as  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth  mentioned  in  the  latter 

f)Iaces  are  contemporary,  as  he  as>umes,  with  the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  so 
le  concludes  Rev.  xxi.  to  refer  to  the  same  thing,  and  that  it  must  be  before 
the  conjlagralion  of  the  world,  since  that  event  would  reduce  the  Jewish  na- 
tion to  asiies.  Chap.  ii.  sect.  3. 


216    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

which  the  saints  will  continually  have  personal  access  to  Christ, 
must  necessarily  be  one  of  increasing  knowledge  and  illumi- 
nation. 

It  must  nevertheless  be  observed,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
there  are  passages  in  Rev.  chaps,  xxi.  and  xxii.  which  seem  to 
forbid  the  viewing  those  chapters  as  setting  forth  events  poste- 
rior in  time  to  the  state  which  commences  at  the  millennium. 
For  example,  chapter  xix.  opens  with  the  shout  of  triumph 
sent  up  on  account  of  the  judgment  on  the  great  whore;  (verses 
1 — 4.)  and  this  is  responded  to  by  a  voice  from  the  throne, 
calling  on  the  saints  to  praise  God  and  to  rejoice,  because  the 
marriage  of  the  Lamb  had  come  and  Ids  wife  had  made  herself 
ready.  Verses  5 — 9.  Then  comes  the  description  in  verses  11  — 
20  of  the  treading  of  the  wine-press,  the  overthrow  of  the 
nations,  and  capture  of  the  last  anti-christian  beast.  This  ac- 
cords with  what  has  been  previously  said,  that  the  rapture  of 
the  saints  (or  marriage  of  the  Lamb)  will  probably  take  place 
prior  to  the  Armageddon  warfare,  but  after  the  final  judgment 
brought  upon  the  anti-christian  ecclesiastical  power  described 
in  the  Revelation.  Yet  the  new  Jerusalem,  which  the  apostle 
sees  descending  from  God  out  of  heaven,  is  described  in  chapter 
xxi.  as  no  other  than  the  Lamb's  wife  made  ready  and  prepared 
for  the  nuptials,  (see  verses  2,  9.)  which  must  be  the  same  sub- 
ject as  that  declared  in  verses  17 — 19  of  chapter  xix.  There 
are  expositors  who  conclude,  that  the  saints  will  be  caught  up 
to  meet  the  Lord,  and  remain  in  tlie  air  with  the  Lord  during 
the  whole  of  the  millennial  dispensation;  only  occasionally 
manifesting  themselves;  and  that  they  will  fulfil  a  similar 
office  to  the  saints  of  the  millennial  dispensation,  which  the 
angels  are  now  actively  fulfilling  to  the  saints  under  this. 
There  does  not  however  appear  any  sufficient  warrant  for  this 
conclusion,  though  I  do  not  dispute  that  it  may  be  so;  but  as 
it  is  the  duty  of  a  writer  on  prophecy  not  to  speak  with  con- 
fidence on  subjects  which  he  cannot  clearly  demonstrate,  I 
therefore  leave  this,  and  the  other  matters  just  touched  upon, 
in  uncertainty,  not  having  myself  light  to  enable  me  to  do  more 
than  name  them. 

There  is  one  point  however  that  remains  to  be  more  fully 
noticed,  on  wliich  there  is  abundant  and  clear  light  vouchsafed; 
viz.  the  participation  of  those  saints  in  the  Jerusalem  glory 
who  have  been  previously  called  out  from  among  the  Gentiles. 
Human  nature  is  ever  prone  to  carry  us  into  extremes;  and 
whilst  some  have  gone  to  the  one  extreme  of  denying  any  res- 
toration of  the  Jexi's,  and  any  Jerusalem  glory  on  earth;  others 
have  proceeded  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  excluding  the 
Gentiles  from  that  glory.    There  will  doubtless  be  a  distinction 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    217 

between  Israel  and  tne  other  nations,  so  far  as  regards  that 
portion  of  mankind  who  are  jiartakers  of  flesh  and  blood  during 
the  millennium;  but  none  whatsoever,  excepting  as  to  the  de- 
gree, in  those  wiio  arc.  the  children  of  the  resurrection.  What- 
soever Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  are  substantially  to  be  made 
partakers  of,  the  same  will  all  that  liave  walked  in  faith  be 
made  joint  heirs  of,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile.  The  Rev.  A. 
McCaul,  has  endeavoured  to  shew,  and  with  some  success,  in 
his  "New  Testament  Evidence,"  before  alluded  to,  that  the 
term  Israel  is  always  to  be  limited  to  the  Uleral  Israel,  where 
its  meaning  can  be  ascertained  by  the  context;  and  he  thei-efore 
contends  that  the  only  questionable  place  (viz.  Gal.  vi.  16, 
where  "the  Israel  of  God"  is  mentioned)  ought,  by  the  rules 
of  sound  criticism,  to  be  interpreted  after  the  same  analogy, 
and  not  of  what  is  called  the  spiritual  Israel.  But  it  does  ap- 
pear to  me  that  the  question  is,  in  this  case,  whether  the 
national  distinction  of  Jew  and  Gentile  is  recognised  in  the 
New  Testament;  for  this  cannot  reasonably  be  disputed;  but 
whether  the  promises  of  the  glory  made  to  Abraham  are  ex- 
clusively to  belong  to  those  who  are  nationally  descendants  of 
Abraham,  or  whether  all  believers  will  not  be  partakers  with 
them. 

Now  this  does  not  depend  upon  the  word  Israel,  but  upon 
very  explicit  statements  in  favour  of  the  Gentiles.  They 
are  declared  to  be  made  partakers  "ztith  them  of  the  root  and 
fatness  of  the  olive  tree."  Romans  xi.  17.  Nothing  can  be 
more  plain  than  what  St.  Paul  advances  in  Romans  and  Gala- 
tians.  He  declares  in  Romans  iv.  that  the  promise  to  Abra- 
ham that  he  should  be  heir  of  the  world,  was  not  to  either  him 
or  his  seed  through  the  Law,  but  through  the  righteousness  of 
faith;  and  that  it  is  of  faith,  that  it  might  be  by  grace;  to  the 
end  the  promise  might  b^  sure  to  all  the  seed:  not  to  that  only 
which  is  of  the  laxr,  but  to  that  also  which  is  of  the  faith  of 
Abraham,  who  is  the  father  of  us  all;"  (verses  13 — .16;)  and 
thus  he  is  the  father,  not  of  the  circumcision  only^  but  of  those 
also  "who  walk  in  the  steps  of  \.\va\.  faith  of  our  father  Abra- 
ham, which  he  had  being  uncircumcised."  Verse  12.  In 
chapter  ix.  he  distinctly  declares,  that  they  are  not  all  children 
which  are  by  the  Jlcsh  descended  from  Abraham;  "but  the 
children  of  the  promise  are  counted  for  the  seed."  Verse  7. 
So  in  Galatians  he  declares — "Know  ye  therefore,  that  they 
which  are  o(  faith,  the  same  are  the  children  of  Abraham,  iii.  7. 
"Ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus," 
&c.  ''there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  bond  nor  free,  male  nor 
female;  for^e  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus;  and  if  j/e  be  Christ^s, 
then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed  and  heiks  according  to  the  promise." 


218    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Verses  26 — 29.  Again,  he  states  in  Epnesians,  "that  it  is  now 
revealed,  that  the  Gefitiles  should  be  fellow  heirs,  and  of  the 
same  body,  and  partakers  of  his  promise  in  Christ  by  the  gospel." 
Ephesians  iii.  5,  6.  So  in  Ephesians  ii.  he  declares,  that  the 
Gentiles,  though  formerly  "aliens  from  the  commoniueallh  of 
Israel  and  strangers  from  the  covenajils  of  promise,^'  are  now 
*'jvo  LONGER  strangers  ami  foreigners,  but  fellow  citizens 
with  the  saints,  antlof  the  household  of  God." 

It  is  endeavoured  to  evade  the  force  of  these  texts  by  assert- 
ing, that  they  refer  only  to  the  promises  of  salvation  in  the 
general,  and  of  the  heavenly  glory.  But  this  is  asserted  with- 
out the  slightest  testimony  of  scripture  on  which  to  build  it; 
and  those  who  should  sit  down  to  attempt  to  discriminate 
between  the  promises  of  scripture  which  belong  to  the  risen 
Gentile,  and  those  which  belong  to  the  risen  Jew,  and  to  bring 
proof  of  such  distinction,  would  indeed  find  'themselves  in- 
volved in  an  inextricable  labyrinth.  The  Gentiles  will  beyond 
question  be  made  partakers  of  all  those  promises  which  the 
apostle  to'  the  Gentiles  holds  out  to  them;  and  also  of  those 
contained  in  the  epistles  of  Christ  to  the  seven  Gentile  churches 
of  the  Apocalypse;  and  these  are  the  same  as  those  which  relate 
to  the  Jew.  Thus  many  who  were  not  then  apparently  children 
of  the  kingdom,  were  to  come  (our  Lord  declared)  from  the 
east  and  the  west,  and  the  north  and  the  south,  and  sit  down 
with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  God.* 

Moreover  it  is  important  also  to  observe,  in  regard  to  those 
who  in  the  millennium  shall  be  partakers  of  the  resurrection, 
that  to  whatever  vicissitudes  men  in  the  flesh  may,  during  that 
period  or  after  it,  be  subject,  they  cannot  affect  those  who  shall 
rise  from  the  dead,  or  who  being  alive,  shall  have  their  vile 
body  changed  at  the  appearing  of  Christ.  These  cannot  be 
hurt  of  the  second  death;  (Rev.  ii,  11.)  on  them  it  hath  no 
power;  (Rev.  xx.  6.)  "They  which  shall  be  accounted  worthy 
to  obtain  that  world,  and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  neither 
marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage:  neither  can  they  die  any 
more:  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  angels,  and  are  the  children 
of  God,  bei?7g  the  children  of  the  resurrection.''   Luke  xx.^  35,  36. 

Surely  these  promises  are  worth  defending:  the  hope  of  them 
will  make  many  an  affliction  appear  light,  and  animate  us  amid 
surrounding  judgments  and  distress  of  nations  with  perplexity 
to  endure  to  the  end. 

*  The  reader  will  find  this  subject  more  fully  treated,  as  also  the  First  Re- 
surrection, and  the  condition  of  the  saints  therein,  in  "Abdiel's  Essays," 
before  referred  to. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    OJO 

CHAPTER  IX. 

ON  DANIEL  AND  THE  APOCALYPSE. 

In  passing  to  the  consideration  of  The  Antichrist,  a  sub- 
ject which  already  has  been  slightly  touched  upon  or  alluded  to 
at  pages  49,  51,  and  69  of  this  volume, — we  have  to  quit  in  a 
great  measure  the  paths  of  clear  and  explicit  prophecy,  and 
enter  into  the  obscurer  regions  of  symbol  and  enigma. 

And  here  I  would  once  more  request  the  reader  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  the  whole  of  prophecy  may  be  resolved  into  two 
principal  portions,  viz. — that  which  sets  forth  things  which 
shall  be  hereafter  in  such  literal  terms  or  ordinary  and  familiar 
tropes,  that  we  can  be  at  no  loss  to  discover  the  plain  meaning, 
by  attending  only  to  the  general  analogy  of  Scripture;  and  that 
which  sets  forth  future  events  in  acknowledged  figures,  sym- 
bols, allegories,  types,  and  other  adumbrations.  The  former 
I  would  call  demonslrable  prophecy;  not  because  the  latter  is 
incapable  of  demonstration,  but  because  the  means  ov principles 
of  demonstration  lie,  in  the  former  instance,  more  obviously 
before  us,  and  are,  as  it  were,  naked  and  open  to  the  eyes  of 
every  believer;  whereas  the  latter  are  of  a  more  involved  and 
intricate  character,  and  their  meaning  and  application  is  in 
many  instances  only  to  be  determined  by  a  careful  and  labo- 
rious investigation  and  comparison  of  the  various  books  of 
Scripture;  such  as  Daniel  seems  to  have  prosecuted  when  he 
tells  us,  "that  he  understood  by  books  the  number  of  the  years, 
whereof  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Jeremiah  the  prophet, 
&c."  ix.  2.  And  as  the  latter  class  of  prophecies  are  avowedly 
in  some  instances  sealed  (Jr  shut  up,  so  as  that  they  should  not 
be  understood  by  the  church  until  the  period  when  they  should 
be  needed,  (Dan.  xii.  4,  9;)  and  as  in  every  instance  they  are 
couched  in  such  terms  as  to  shroud  their  general  purport  or 
particular  application  from  all  who  are  not  aided  by  divine 
wisdom;  (Dan.  xii.  10,)  it  follows  that,  in  the  one  case,  they 
could  not  be  understood,  even  by  the  church,  until  the  time  ap- 
pointed of  the  Father;  and  that  in  tlie  other  case  tliere  must 
always  remain  a  degree  of  obscurity  about  the  matter,  even 
after  the  fulfilment.  This  requires  the  interpreter  to  advance 
his  exposition  with  a  comparative  degree  of  diffidence;  and  it 
must,  in  numerous  instances,  from  the  different  measure  of 
talent,  of  learning,  of  industry  and  of  prejudice  also,  in  really 
good^men,'give  scope  for  a  measure  of  discrepancy  also  in  their 


2O0    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPPvETATION. 

several  interpretations.*  And  this  appears  to  be  among  the 
means,  whereby,  in  the  providence  of  God,  this  department  of 
prophecy  is  more  especially  hidden  from  the  ungodly  and 
worldly,  who  are  too  incurious  and  careless  humbly  to  examine 
for  themselves,  and  who  take  occasion  from  the  mistakes  or 
differences  of  Christians  to  discard  the  whole,  either  with  pro- 
fane derision,  or  with  equally  profane  contempt. 

I  consider,  therefore,  that  what  I  have  advanced  in  the  for- 
mer chapters  of  this  volume  is  susceptible  of  that  demonstra- 
tion which  enables  me  to  offer  it  with  a  full  persuasion  and 
confidence,  that  it  is  in  the  main  correct;  saving  those  passages 
or  topics  regarding  which  I  have  apprised  the  reader,  as  I  have 
proceeded,  that  I  speak  of  them  with  hesitation.  But  for  the 
reasons  just  assigned, — and  from  the  further  circumstance,  that 
my  own  mind  is  not  convinced  in  regard  to  ami  interpretation 
as  yet  offered  of  the  whole  apocalypse  (however  I  may  concur 
in  certain  parts  and  particulars) — I  approach  this  part  of  the 
subject  with  much  greater  diffidence. 

It  might  be  concluded  by  some,  and  indeed  is  concluded, 
that  as  there  is  so  much  difference  of  opinion  among  the  best 
expositors  in  regard  to  the  truths  contained  in  this  portion  of 
prophecy,  that  the  better  way  would  be  to  leave  it  alone  alto- 
gether, and  wait  until  it  please  God  to  cast  more  light  upon  it. 
This,  however,  is  a  conclusion  which  cannot  be  too  strongly 
deprecated.  Lettuig  the  subject  alone  is  what,  in  the  great  ma- 
jority of  instances,  has  occasioned  that  lamentable  ignorance  in 
regard  to  prophecy,  which  has  been  one  great  source  of  the 
numerous  unsound  and  superficial  and  merely  imitative  expo- 
sitions that  have  at  difl'erent  times  made  their  appearance  in 
the  world.  Many  of  these  publications  would  never  have 
been  endured,  nor  ever  indeed  have  been  written,  had  the 
Christian  church  been  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  subject 
to  have  detected  the  grossest  errors;  but  the  fact  is,  that  the 
majority  of  Christians  in  the  present  day  are  not  even  ac- 
quainted with  the  text  of  the  Apocalypse,  nor  with  the  relative 
position  of  the  subjects  contained  therein;  but  when  their  re- 
gular reading  of  the  scriptures  leads  them  to  that  book,  they 
turn  back  and  begin  again.  And  this  is  the  more  remarkable, 
considering  that  the  Lord,  as  if  foreseeing  the  contempt  with 
which  this  portion  of  his  revelation  would  be  treated  by  carnal 
men,  has  in  a  very  especial  manner  commended  both  '.his  and 
the  prophecies  of  Daniel  to  our  attention.  Thus  (apparently 
referring  to  Dan.  viii.  13,  ix.  27,  xi.  31,  and  xii.  11,)  he  says, 

♦  The  reader  is  requested  to  refer  again  to  what  has  been  said  on  this  head 
at  page  113,  and  particularly  to  the  extract  from  Bishop  Sherlock,  at  page  117. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    221 

"Whoso  readeth,  let  him  undersla?icl;"  (Matt.  xxiv.  15;)  and 
he  commences  the  Ajiocalypse  with  the  promise  of  a  special 
blessing  "to  him  that  readeth  and  them  that  hear,  and  that  keep 
the  words  of  that  prophecy,"  as  has  been  in  a  former  place  ob- 
served.  Page  14. 

But,  besides  this,  to  leave  alone  these  portions  of  divine  re- 
velation, would  be  to  abandon  all  idea  of  successful  inquiry 
into  that  important  topic  comprehended  in  prophecy — Anti- 
christ. For,  as  before  remarked,  the  light  which  we  possess 
concerning  it  is  chiefly  derived  from  hence.  I  have  not,  in- 
deed, any  intention  of  entering  into  a  regular  exposition  of 
these  books;  for  neither  would  the  space  which  this  volume 
affords  be  sufficient,  nor  am  I  prepared  by  the  needful  pre- 
vious light  or  conviction  for  the  undertaking;  but  it  will  be 
very  desirable  to  set  before  the  reader  some  information  re- 
specting certain  topics  contained  in  them;  and  on  some  par- 
ticular points,  I  may  likewise  take  the  opportunity  of  stating 
what  a])pears  to  me  to  amount  to  a  demonstration;  and  in 
others,  what  commends  itself  as  wearing  tiie  ajipearance  of  a 
high  probability.  It  will  be  useful,  however,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, to  make  a  (ew  particular  observations  on  the  books 
themselves. 

1.  The  authenticity,  and,  by  consequence,  the  inspiration  of 
the  book  of  Daniel,  was  questioned  by  Porphyry,  an  enemy 
to  the  Christian  faith,  in  the  third  century,  on  the  ground  that 
a  portion  of  the  prophecies  contained  therein  was  so  exact  a 
description  of  the  actions  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  (whom  we 
shall  have  to  notice  again  presently,)  that  the  writer  must  have 
lived  subsequent  to  the  event.  The  Jews,  likewise,  have  en- 
deavoured to  disparage  the  book  of  Daniel,  from  the  circum- 
stance of  their  finding  themselves  so  pressed  by  Christians  with 
certain  portions  of  it,  when  they  would  deny  that  Messiah  has 
already  appeared,  or  that  he  was  to  be  cut  off.  They  do  not, 
however,  question  the  authenticity  of  the  book;  th.ey  only,  in 
some  instances,  remove  it  from  its  proper  and  ancient  situation 
among  the  prophets,  and  assign  it  a  place  among  that  class  of 
the  sacred  writings,  which  they  call  Hagiugrapha.  These  cir- 
cumstances, however,  unsupported  as  the  objections  in  both 
instances  are  by  any  shadow  of  proof,  are  in  themselves  cor- 
roborative of  the  impiratioii  of  Daniel,  when  once  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  book  is  established;  in  regard  to  which  it  is  only 
needful  to  advance  one  single  and  very  notorious  fact: — viz. 
that  the  book  of  Daniel  was  translated  into  (ireek,  and  pre- 
served i)y  the  Egyptians  in  what  is  called  the  Septuagint  ver- 
sion, long  before  the  time  of  Antiochus — a  fact  which  the  Jews 
do  not  venture  to  deny. 

VOL.   II.  — 19 


222  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

And  as  the  authenticity  of  Daniel  has  been  questioned,  so 
likewise  has  that  of  the  Apocalypse  by  the  abettors  of  certain 
systems,  as  has  been  shown  in  a  former  chapter.  Page  43.  It 
may  be  sufficient,  however,  in  this  instance  to  adduce  the  tes- 
timony of  one  of  the  Fathers, — viz.  Irenseus,  who  declares  that 
the  revelation  given  to  John  was  seen  by  him  ''not  long  ago, 
almost  in  the  very  age  itself  of  Irenaeus,  about  the  end  of  Do- 
mitian's  reign."*  Lib.  v.  cap.  xxx.  The  doubt  which  was 
cast  upon  the  work  for  a  time  tended,  indeed,  in  the  end  to 
establish  its  canonical  authority  with  a  more  full  and  complete 
testimony  than  it  would  in  all  probability  have  otnerwise  en- 
joyed; witness  the  "Observations"  made  on  the  work  by  the 
great  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  His  well  known  caution,  learning, 
judgment,  and  powerful  abilities  render  whatsoever  he  ad- 
vances, as  the  result  of  his  historical  research,  of  the  very  first 
authority;  and  he  declares,  "that  he  does  not  find  any  other 
book  of  the  New  Testament  so  strongly  attested  or  commented 
upon  so  early  as  this." 

In  regard  to  the  general  contents  of  these  two  books,  the 
opinion  of  the  learned  Joseph  Mede  appears  to  be  correct  so 
far  as  it  goes,  viz. — that  Daniel  is  apocalypsis  coiilracta,  and  the 
apocalypse  Dafiiel  expUcata;  in  that  what  is  shown  to  Daniel 
in  the  sketch  or  summary  form,  he  considers  is  presented  to 
John  in  the  details.  But  it  appears  to  me  that  we  may  go  far- 
ther than  this,  and  say  that  the  very  details  themselves  lie  for 
the  most  part  scattered  in  the  other  prophets;  and  I  consider 
therefore  that  it  is  a  very  important  c/ero  to  the  right  interpre- 
tation of  St.  John,  to  view  the  Revelation  given  to  him  as  ad- 
justing those  scattered  and  discursive  prophecies,  and  assigning 
to  them  their  true  position  in  the  great  prophetical  history  or 
picture.      Let  the  reader  compare,  for  example — 

EZEKIEL  i.  AND  REVELATION  iv.  &C. 

EzEKiEL  sees  "four  living  creatures''        John  sees  "four  beasts  full  of  eyes,  be- 
— "and  their  wings  were  full  of  eyes     fore  and  behind,"  ver.  G. 
round  about  them  four."  ver.  b,  18. 

"As  for  the  likenesses  of  their  faces,  "And  the  first  beast  was  like  a  lion, 

they  four  had  the  face  of  a  7iian  and  and  the  second  like  a  calf,  the  third 

the  face  of  a  lion  on  the  right  side,  and  had  a  face  as  a  man,  ancl  the  fourth 

they  four  had  the  face  of  an  ox  on  the  was  like  a  flying  eagle.'"  ver.  7. 
left  side,  they  four  also  had  the  face  of 
an  eagle.'"  ver.  10. 


*  Dr.  Lardner  assigns  the  date  of  the  versions  of  the  Apocalypse  to  some- 
where between  a.d.  95  and  97.  Vol.  vi.  p.  G38.  Some  interesting  matter  con- 
nected with  this  point  will  be  found  in  a  Review  of  Dr.  Tilloch's  Dissertation 
on  the  Apocalypse,  contained  in  The  Investigalor,  vol.  i. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    223 


"Their  appearance  was  like  burning 
coals  of  fire,  and  like  the  appearance 
of  lamps;''' — "and  out  of  the  fire  went 
forth  lightning;^-  (ver.  11)— "and  when 
they  went  I  heard  the  noise  of  their 
wings,  like  the  noise  of  great  waters, 
as  the  vuice  of  the  Almighty,  the  voice 
of  speech, '''  &c.  ver.  24. 

"Their  wings  were  stretched  up- 
ward, two  wings  of  every  one  were 
joined  one  to  another,  and  two  covered 
t/ieir  bodies."  ver.  11.  "Every  one  had 
two  Avhich  covered  on  this  side,  and 
every  one  had  two  which  covered  on 
that  side,  their  bodies.''*  ver.  23. 

"And  above  the  firmament  that  was 
over  their  heads  was  the  likeness  of  a 
throne,  as  the  appearance  of  a  sapphire 
stone;  and  upon  the  likeness  of  the 
throne  was  the  likeness  as  the  appear- 
ance of  a  man  above  upon  it."  ver.  26. 

"And  I  saw  as  the  colour  of  amber, 
as  the  appearance  oifire,  &c.  from  his 
loins  upward  and  downward."  ver.  27. 


"And  it  had  brightness  round  about: 
as  the  appearance  of  the  bow  that  was 
in  the  cloud  in  the  day  of  rain,  so  was 
the  appearance  of  the  brightness  rojmci 
about.^'  ver.  28. 


"The  likeness  of  the  firmament'" 
{above  which  was  the  throne,  ver.  26) 
"was  as  the  terrible  crystal,  &c.  ver. 
22. 


"And  when  I  looked,  behold,  a  hand 
was  sent  unto  rne;  and  lo,  a  roll  of  a 
book  was  therein."  ch.  ii.  9. 

"And  it  was  written  within  and 
without;  and  there  was  written  therein 
lamentations,  and  moiirnins,  and  woe." 
ch.  ii.  10. 

"Then  did  I  eat  it,  and  it  was  in  my 
viouth  as  honey  for  siccetncss."  ch.  iii.  3. 

But  afterward  "I  went  in  bitterness, 
in  the  heat  of  my  spirit."  ch.  iii.  10. 


The  beasts  were  "in  the  midst  of  the 
throne,  and  round  about  the  throne;" 
(ver.  6.)  "and  out  of  the  throne  pro- 
ceeded lightnings  and  thunderings,  and 
voices;"  "and  there'  were  seven  lamps 
of  fire  burning  before  the  throne."  ver. 


"And  the  four  beasts  had  each  of 
them  si.x  vings  about  them."  ver.  8. 


"And,  behold,  a  ^Arowe  was  set  in 
heaven,  and  one  sat  on  the  throne." 
ver.  2. 


"And  he  that  sat  was  to  look  upon 
like  a^'«.';;7e?-and  a.  sardine  stone."  ver. 
3.  In  chap.  x.  1.,  of  the  same  person- 
age it  is  said,  "his  face  was  as  it  were 
the  sun,  and  his  feet  (or  legs)  as  pillars 
of  fire. 

"And  there  was  a  rainbow  round 
about  the  throne,  in  sight  like  unto  an 
emerald."  (ver.  3.)  "And  I  saw  an- 
other mighty  angel  come  down  from 
heaven,  clothed  with  a  cloud,  and  a 
rainboio  was  upon  his  head."  ch.x.i. 

What  is  in  Ezekiel  called  a  firma- 
ment which  is  above  the  throne,  is  in  the 
Revelation,  described  as  "asraof  glass 
like  unto  crystal,"  which  is  '^before  the 
throne."  ver.  5. 

"Andthe  voice,  &c.  said.  Go  and 
take  the  little  book  which  is  open  in  the 
hand  of  the  angel,  &c.'/  ch.  x.  8. 

The  account  of  this  book,  in  the 
Rev.  ch.  X.  is  placed  immediately  be- 
tween the  recital  of  the  first  and  third 
woes.    See  chaps,  ix.  and  xi. 

"And  I — ate  it  up;  and  it  was  in  my 
mouth  snieet  as  honey. ^^  ch.  x.  10. 

"And  as  soon  as  I  had  eaten  it  my 
belly  was  bitter."  {Ibid.) 


*  In  verse  6,  Ezekiei  speaks  as  if  they  had  four  wings  only;  but  he  there 
speaks  probably  of  those  which  covered  their  bodies,  and  were  joined  to  each 
other;  for  they  had  also  two  stretched  up,  with  which  they  flew. 


224   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

A  remarkable  correspondency  has  already  been  pointed  out 
between  the  city  of  Ezekiel,  chap,  xlviii.  and  that  of  Rev. 
chap.  xxi.  (see  page  209.)  Joel  iii.  Isaiah  xiv. ;  Jer.  1.  and 
li.  may  likewise  be  profitabl}^  compared  with  other  portions  of 
the  Apocalypse,  which  establish  this  connection  between  the 
other  prophecies  and  those  of  St.  John  in  a  manner  that  forces 
the  conviction  upo-n  us,  that  there  is  a  designed  relationship 
between  them.  And  if  this  be  admitted,  then  various  impor- 
tant results  will  flow  from  it.  For  example,  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
has  said  of  the  Revelation;  "He  that  would  understand  the  old 
prophets  must  begin  with  this."  But  may  we  not  rather  say 
that  tbe  careful  study  and  comparison  of  both  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  explaining  of  each  other?  It  will,  I  think,  be 
found,  that  if  important  minutiae  and  particulars  are  given  to 
John,  together  with  an  occasional  disj)osition  of  facts  calculated 
to  throw  light  upon  passages  contained  in  the  old  prophecies; 
so  likewise  are  there  many  particulars  given  at  times  in  the 
old  prophets  which  are  of  great  use  toward  better  determining 
the  meaning  of  St.  John,  and  which  will  afford  aid  also  towards 
fixing  the  order  and  time  of  events. 

To  give  an  instance  connected  with  the  parallel  just  placed 
before  the  reader.  First:  the  four  beasts  or  living  creatures 
described  in  Rev.  iv.  may  be  demonstrated  to  be  an  emblem 
of  the  Church;  (whether  the  church  militant  or  glorified  need 
not  here  be  inquired  into:)  for  they  sing, — "Thou  hast  re- 
deemed us  I)y  thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue  and 
people  and  nation;  &c."  Chap.  v.  9.  The  vision  of  Ezekiel 
therefore  must  have  some  reference  or  connexion  with  the 
Church.  Secondly:  if  there  be  a  designed  relation  between 
the  visions,  what  is  set  forth  in  Ezekiel  could  not  have  been 
accomplished  prior  to  the  time  of  St.  John,  seeing  that  the 
invitation  to  the  latter  in  chap.  iv.  1.  is,  "Come  up  hither — I 
will  shew  thee  things  which  must  be  hereafter.''^  Thirdly:  the 
description  which  introduces  the  vision  of  Ezekiel,  chap.  i.  4 — 
"And  I  looked,  and  behold  a  wfdrhiind  came  out  of  the  north, 
a  great  cloud,  and  a  fire  unfolding  itself,  and  a  brightness  was 
about  it,  and  out  of  the  midst  thereof  as  the  colour  of  amber, 
out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire.  Also  out  of  the  midst  thereof  came 
the  likeness  o(  four  living  creatures; — seems  to  point  to  some 
connexion  between  the  proceedings  of  the  church  of  God  and 
that  awful  period  of  tribulation  so  frequently  set  forth  in  Scrip- 
ture as  a  whirlwind.     See  page  163. 

But  if  there  be  a  connexion  between  the  prophecies  of  the 
Apocalypse  and  those  of  Ezekiel,  still  more  evident  is  the  re- 
lationship between  the  former  and  the  prophecies  of  Dariiel. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    225 

The  four  beasts  described  in  Dan.  vii.  coming  out  of  the  sea, 
like  a  lion,  a  bear,  a  leopard,  and  a  non-descript  with  ten  horns, 
obviously  refers  to  Rev.  xiii.  11,  where  apparently  the  last  of 
these  four  beasts,  the  non-descript  animal,  is  seen  rising  out  of 
the  sea,  with  seven  heads*  and  ten  horns.  And  his  diversity 
from  all  other  animals  apparently  consists  in  a  monstrous  com- 
bination of  the  likeness  of  the  previous  three;  for  he  is  like 
unto  a  leopard,  and  he  has  the  feet  of  a  hear  and  the  mouth  of  a 
lion,  (verse  29.)  These  four  beasts  are  explained  by  Daniel 
(verses  17,  23)  to  be  four  ki/i^-doms;  and  it  is  very  important 
in  fixing  the  meaning  of  the  visions  of  Daniel  and  St.  John  to 
ascertain,  what  four  kingdoms  or  empires  they  symbolize. 

In  this  there  is  a  pretty  universal  agreement  among  com- 
mentators, both  ancient  and  modern,  protestant  and  papal,  that 
they  are  the  Assyrian,  JNIedo-Persian,  Grecian,  and  Roman. 
The  fourth  monarchy  is  declared  by  the  writer  of  the  book  of 
Esdras  to  be  Rome;  and  JNIede  asserts  it  to  have  been  the 
opinion  of  the  Jews  both  before  and  after  the  time  of  Christ. 
Alcasar,  Ribera,  Caspar,  Sanctius,  and  Cornelius  A  Lapide  (or 
Alapide,)  together  with  Baronius  and  Bellarmine,  all  Roman 
Catholic  writers,  admit  Babylon  to  signify  pagan  Rome;  and 
the  intimate  connexion  between  the  Beast  and  the  Babylonian 

*  Some  suppose  the  seven  heads  described  in  Rev.  xiii.  1,  to  be  made  up  of 
the  head  of  the  lion,  bear,  and  non-descript  beast,  together  with  the  four  heads 
of  the  leopard.  Dan.  vii.  6.  Bengel,  however,  says,  "that  the  ancient  fathers 
understood  by  the  seven  heads,  so  many  ages  or  moiiarchies  of  the  icoiid  from 
its  beginning  to  its  end."  I  do  not  remember  to  have  met  with  the  enumera- 
tion of  these  seven:  the  Jews  reckoned  there  would  be  iiinc  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end.  There  existed  in  the  time  of  Dr.  Homes,  the  contemporary  of 
Mede,  a  manuscript  Taigum,  mentioned  by  him,  which  in  Esther,  chap.  i. 
makes  the  computation  thus:  "The  first  monarchy  was  of  God;  second  under 
Nimrod;  third  under  Pharaoh;  fourth  under  Solomon;  fifth  under  Nebuchad- 
nezzar; sixth  under  the  Medes»  and  Persians;  seventh  under  Alexander  the 
Great;  eighth  under  Julius  Caesar;  the  ninth,  -the  kingdom  of  Messiah,  or 
Christ."  This  is  apparently  the  same  Targum  as  that  mentioned,  by  Jacob 
Colerusin  the  preface  to  the  Hebrew  Bible  of  Hutter.  Omitting  the  fust  in  this 
enumeration,  and  the  very  doubtful  one  under  Solomon,  which  appears  to  have 
been  inserted  by  Jewish  vanity,  and  the  list  is  useful  as  marking  the  agreement 
in  the  5th,  6th,  7th,  and  8th,  with  the  designation  and  order  of  succession  given 
by  ancient  Christian  chronologists.  In  a  very  scarce  tract  by  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  published  in  163G,  "discovering  all  the  empires  and  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  as  they  flourisht  respectively  under  the  foure  imperiall  monarchies; 
faithfully  composed  out  of  the  most  improved  authoiirs,  and  exactly  digested 
according  to  the  supputation  of  the  best  chronoiogers,"  he  thus  places  them, 
1.  As.syrian,  2.  Persian,  3.  Greek,  4.  Roman. 

1  would  take  this  opportunity  of  observing,  that  the  seven  beads  explained 
to  be  mountains  in  Rev.  xvii.  i),  cannot  be  the  same  as  the  seven  ki/i^^s  of  verse 
10,  as  many  expositors  conclude.  For  of  the  former  it  is  said,  "the  seven  heads 
are  seven  mountains  on  which  the  woman  siltc/h,  indicating,  that  at  the  time 
intended  in  the  vision,  the  woman  or  city  is  placed  upon  them  all  at  once: 
whereas  of  the-kings,  five  are  fallen,  one  only  is  present,  and  one  yet  to  qomQ. 
19* 


226  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Harlot  of  the  Apocalypse  is  suflicient  to  identify  tiiem  as  being 
of  the  same  empire.* 

A  modern  Spanish  Roman  Catholic  writer,  whose  name  is 
supposed  to  be  Lacunza,  but  whose  work  is  published  under 
the  Jewish  name  of  Ben  Ezra,  has  attempted  to  shake  this 
opinion;  on  the  ground  that  the  four  empires  were  not  "infe- 
rior" the  one  to  the  other,  particularly  the  second  to  the  first, 
as  it  is  intimated  in  Dan.  ii.  they  should  be.t  But  wliatever 
seeming  difficulties  may  attend  a  portion  of  the  exposition,  it 
is  impossible  to  withstand  the  general  tradition  on  this  head 
that  has  existed  in  the  church,  together  with  the  historical  tes- 
timony mentioned  in  the  note  on  the  last  page;  to  which  may 
be  added  an  observation  of  Mr.  Faber's. — Speaking  in  his 
Sacred  Calendar  of  the  mode  of  reckoning  the  four  empires 
symbolized  by  the  image  which  Nebuchadnezzar  saw  in  his 
dream,  he  says — "Such  a  mode  of  reckoning,  &c.  is  admirably 
illustrated  by  the  famous  astronomical  canon  of  Ptolemy.  As 
the  good  spirit  of  God  employs  the  four  successive  empires  of 
Babylon,  Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome  in  the  capacity  of  the 
great  Calendar  of  Prophecy;  so  Ptolemy  has  employed  the 
very  four  same  empires  in  the  construction  of  his  invaluable 
canon;  because  the  several  lines  of  their  sovereigns  so  begin 
and  end,  when  the  one  line  is  engrafted  on  the  other  line,  as 
to  form  a  single  unbroken  series  from  Nabonassar  to  Augustus 
Csesar."     Vol.  ii.  p.  9. 

But  we  may  go  further  than  the  coincidence  between  inter- 
preters and  historians.  The  question  appears  to  be  susceptible 
of  actual  demonstration.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Ba- 
bylonian empire  is  ihejirst;  for  Daniel  (ii.  38.)  is  precise  upon 
the  point  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  in  vvhose  crown  and  government 
that  empire  was  headed  up:  "Thou  art  this  head  of  gold. "J 
Again,  of  the  woman,  who  is  seen  by  John  sitting  upon  the 

*  Many  testimonies  as  to  Rome  being  the  fourth  empire  may  be  found  in 
Mede's  works,  in  Dr.  Cressener's  Demonstrations,  &c.  and  Dr.  More's  Mys- 
tery of  Iniquity. 

+  The  successive  inferiority  of  the  one  kingdom  to  the  other  is  considered 
by  Dr.  N.  Homes  to  refer  to  their  respective  treatment  of  the  Jews.  See  the 
Resurrection  Revealed,  revised  edition,  p.  141. 

t  I  have  unceremoniously  referred  to  this  vision  as  prophetic,  though  some 
expositors  would  make  the  first  six  chapters  of  the  book  of  Daniel  hislorical, 
and  only  the  last  six  iirojthrHrdl.  But  there  appears  to  be  no  room  to  question 
this  vision.  Some  cxiiomicis  consider  the  vision  of  the  Tree  alsti,  in  chap.  iv. 
to  be  prophetical.  (Ser  I  lulincs's  "Time  of  the  End.")  The  visions  may  in- 
deed be  introduced  throuirli  the  medium  of  historical  narrative,  but  this  by  no 
means  invalidates  their  propiietical  sense,  or  renders  them  of  private  interpre- 
tation. The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches.  (Rev. 
ii.  and  iii.)  A  very  able  treatise  on  the  prophetical  sense  of  these  Epistles 
was  published  in  1H33,  by  the  Rev.  H.  Girdlestone,  which  abounds  with  valu- 
able critical  and  historical  information. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPPvETATION.    227 

ten-liorned  beast,  (which  corresponds,  as  we  have  seen,  with 
the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel,)  it  is  declared  to  the  apostle — "'And 
the  woman  which  thou  sawcst  is  thai  i^rcal  city,  rchich  kkigneth 
over  the  kings  of  the  earlh.^'  Rev.  xvii.  IS.  The  expression 
reigneth  marks  it  to  be  the  then  present  time  that  is  alluded  to; 
and  it  may  safely  be  asked,  what  city  reigned  over  the  world 
in  St.  John's  time,  excepting  Rome!  Certainly  not  the  literal 
Babi/lo/i,  though  the  woman  is  here  so  called.* 

Having,  then,  the  first  and  last,  the  only  question  that  re- 
mains concerns  the  intermediate  two,  or  the  second  and  third 
empires;  and  these  seem  to  be  determined  by  the  vision  of  the 
Ram  and  He  Goat  of  Daniel  viii.  which  is  thus  explained  by 
the  angel:  "The  ram  which  thou  sawest,  having  two  horns, are 
the  ki//gs  of  Media  and  Persia;  and  the  rough  goat  is  the  kifig 
of  Graecia;  and  the  great  horn  that  is  between  his  e3'es  is  the 
first  ki/ig.'^'f  And  there  is  a  correspondency  in  certain  features 
of  these  two  emblems,  sulFicient  to  warrant  their  identification 
with  the  second  and  third  empires  of  chaps,  ii.  and  vii.  For 
the  third  is  in  chap.  ii.  represented  by  the  two  arms  and  breast 
of  the  image;  in  chap.  vii.  by  the  two  sides  of  the  bear,  who 
raises  itself  up  on  one  side,  (i.  e.  one  side  becomes  more 
elevated  than  the  other;)  and  the  Medio-Persian  Ram  has  "two 
horns,  but  one  was  higher  than  the  other,  and  the  higher  came 
up  last."  And  as  the  third  beast  has  four  wings  of  a  fowl,  and 
four  heads,  and  dominion  was  given  to  it;"  so  "the  goat  waxed 
very  great,  and  when  he  was  strong  the  great  horn  was  broken; 

*  Tlie  Roman  Catholics,  who  insist  that  Peter  was  the  first  bishop  of  Rome, 
maybe  pressed  with  a  further  dcnwnstration  here;  for  Peter  saj's,  in  his  1st 
Epistle,  chap.  v.  13,  "The  church  that  is  alBa'^i/toii,  elected  together  with  you, 
saluteth  you;"  in  which  case,  he  must  here  designate  Rome  by  its  mystic 
name  of  Babylon.  Lightfoot,  however,  says,  (in  Hor.  ad  I  Cor.  p.  270) — 
"James,  Peter,  a^id  John  went  io  the  circumcision,  and  we  can  shew  the  diocese 
of  each  of  them.  James  had  Palestine  and  Syxia;  Peter  Babylon  and  Assy- 
ria, (evidently  understanding  this  verse  literally;)  and  John  the  Helenists, 
Earticularly  in  Asia  and  farther  on."  Mr.  Rabett,  however,  affirms  that  Ba- 
ylon  was  deslroyed  many  ages  before  the  time  the  Apocalypse  was  given.  (P. 
194.)  But  this,  "though  it  is  true  to  such  extent  as  to  rob  it  of  all  title  to  the 
appellation  "Great  Babylon,"  is  questionable  to  that  extent  which  would  de- 
prive it  altogether  of  its  claim  to  be  considered  the  metropolitan  city  of  As- 
syria. 

t  I  have  marked  three  of  the  terms  in  the  above  quotation  in  italics,  for  the 
purpose  of  pointing  out  how  clearly  they  make  manifest  that  these  Beasts  in 
Dan.  vii.  and  viii.  do  not  symbolize  one  individual  king  only,  but  kingdoms, 
comprehending  a  succession  of  kings.  We  have  the  kings  o{  Media  and  Per- 
sia, in  the  plural,  represented  by  the  Ram.  And  though  the  Goat  is  described 
as  being  "the /.•/««' of  Grwcia,"  as  if  only  one  individual  king  wereintended;  yet 
a  further  explanation  declares  the  horn  between  the  Goal's  eyes  to  represent  the 
first  king— thus  plainly  implying  a  succession  of  (hem.  Mr.  Faber,  therefore, 
has  no  warrant  to  limit  the  expression  in  Daniel,  "Thou  art  this  head  of  gold," 
to  the  life  of  Uie  individual  Nebuchadnezzar. 


228  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

and  for  it  came  u^t  four  notable  ones  toward  the  four  winds  of 
heaven."* 

2.  It  were  vain  to  attempt  to  enumerate  the  different  views 
which  have  been  taken  of  the  Apocalypse  as  a  whole.  Gro- 
tius,  Wetstein,  and  some  other  learned  men,  refer  all  to  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  Jewish  wars,  and  the  civil  wars 
of  the  Romans.!  Rpsenmuller,  Eichorn,  and  some  other  Ger- 
man divines,  consider  it  a  prophecy  of  what  should  happen  to 
the  Christian  church  to  the  end  of  the  world,  in  the  way  of 
false  teaching,  persecution,  &c. ;  Christianity  being  finally  vic- 
torious. The  latter  divides  it  into  three  parts:  the  first,  from 
chap.  i.  to  xii.  17,  relating  to  the  triumph  of  Christianity  over 
Judaism,  from  xii.  IS,  to  xx.  10,  to  its  triumph  over  heathen- 
ism; and  the  remainder  to  its  final  triumph  over  the  world, 
and  to  the  happiness  of  the  life  to  come.  And  whilst  some 
have  principally  viewed  the  Pagan  persecutions  only,  others 
have  applied  it  all,  or  mainly,  to  the  Papal  persecutions  or 
apostacy;  a  third  class  considers  the  whole  as  future,  and  looks 
forward  to  the  rise  of  an  hfulel  power,  in  which  all  will  be 
accomplished;  and  a  fourth  class  combines  all  tliree  views,  and 
alleges  all  three  powers  to  be  set  forth  therein.  We  shall  have 
occasion  presently  to  revert  to  some  of  these.  Some  again 
interpret  it  all  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs,  in  an  historical 
and  emblematical  manner;  and  others  make  the  application  of 
the  whole  to  invisible  or  spiritual  things  only.     Some  consider 

*  It  would  not  be  right,  on  this  important  point,  to  pass  by  another  argu- 
ment, which  is  by  some  considered  as  an  equally  clear  demonstration  that  the 
beast  of  Rev.  xvii.  is  Rome.  The  seven  heads  are  explained  to  be  seven  moun- 
tains, on  which  the  woman,  or  city,  sitteth.  (v.  0.)  This  is  by  many  supposed 
to  be  only  another  figure,  in  explanation  of  the  former  figure;  but  by  these  it 
is  considered  absurd  to  suppose  a  symbol  interpreted  by  a  symbol,  and  there- 
fore the  mountains  are  understood  lUcratli/  as  seven  kills,  on  which  the  city  is 
built.  There  are  many  well-known  allusions  in  the  Latin  poets,  quite  irre- 
spective of  prophecy,  to  "the  seven-hilled  city,"  which  have  been  quoted  br 
writers  on  this  subject.     Thus — 

Hanc  Remus  et  Frater;  sic  fortis  Etrnria  crevit 
Scilicet  et  rerum  facta  est  pulchci  rima  J?o7na 
Septemque  una  sibi  muro  circumdedit  arces. — Virg. 

Sed,  quPB  de  scptem  totum  circumspicit  orbem 
Montibus,  Imperii  Roma  Deum  que  locus. — Ovid. 

Dumque  suis  victrix  scptcvi  de  moTitihus  orbem 
Prospiciet  domitum  Martia  Roma  legar. — Ibid. 

Diis,  quibus  scptem  placuere  colles — Horack. 

Seplcm  urbs  alfa  juf^is,  tnti  qufcporsidct  orbi, 
Fceminias  timuit  territa  Marte  minas.— Propertils. 

ViRo.  See  Georg.  lib.  ii.  v.  6,  7,  8.— Ovid.  Trist.  Lib.  1,  El.  v.  C9,  70.— Ibid 
Lib.  iii.  El.  vii.  v.  b\,  5-3.— Prop.  Lib.  iii.  El.  xi.  57,  58. 

t  There  is  a  good  synopsis  of  the  views  of  Wetstein  in  the  preface  to  Ailain 
Clarke's  quarto  ediiioti  of  the  Bible. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    229 

it  a  revelation  entirely  affecting  the  Gentiles,  pointing  to  the 
fact  of  its  being  all  addressed  to  the  seven  Gentile  churches  of 
Asia;  and  many  of  these  consider  Daniel  as  concerning  chiefly 
the  Jews,  because  he  was  shewn  what  would  befall  his  own 
people  in  the  latter  days.  On  the  other  hand,  some,  who  are 
led  away  by  system  to  the  opposite  extreme,  can  see  nothing 
but  Israel  after  the  flesh  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  consider  the 
Jew  as  the  master  key  to  the  whole. 

The  above  are  some  of  the  views  and  systems  of  interpreta- 
tion, and  there  are  several  others,  one  of  which  may  not  be 
be  passed  over:  viz.  that  of  the  republican  dissenters  of  the 
present  age,  who  can  see  in  Daniel  and  St.  John  only  the  de- 
struction of  all  church  establishments,  and  the  subversion  of 
all  thrones,  to  be  succeeded  by  a  millennium  consisting  of  the 
universal  prevalence  of  those  principles,  which  the  Lord  per- 
mits, and  makes  use  of  instrumentally,  in  pouring  out  the  vials 
of  his  wrath.*  There  can  be  liltle  doubt, — and  the  considera- 
tion gives  a  most  awful  character  to  the  signs  of  the  present 
times, — that  all  which  our  heavenly  father  hath  not  planted 
will  be  rooted  up,  and  eveiy  thing  which  offends  will  be 
gathered  out  of  his  kingdom;  and  it  is  to  be  apprehended,  from 
the  word  of  God,  that  every  throne  not  established  and  main- 
tained in  righteousness  will  be  overthrown:  but  to  suppose 
that  the  agency,  which  the  Lord  shall  employ  in  order  to 
effect  it,  is  permanently  to  occupy  its  place,  is  as  absurd  as  to 
suppose,  that  when  the  Lord  made  use  of  the  Philistines  or 
Chaldeans  wherewith  to  chastise  Israel,  he  intended  ultimately 

*  A  specimen  of  these  views  will  be  found  in  the  Illustrations  of  Prophecy, 
vol.  i.  page  26—28.  Dr.  Towers,  Clarke,  (author  of  Prophetic  Records)  Vint 
and  Jones  are  among  the  principal  writers  of  this  school.  Whiston  bore  the 
same  way  in  a  former  age.  A  short  quotation  or  two  from  the  "Illustrations 
of  Prophecy,"  which  is  the  mrwiufacture  of  Towers  and  Vint,  will  serve  to 
demonstrate  its  tendency.  "There  are  few  countries  in  Europe  in  which  the 
subsistence  and  comforts  of  the  mass  of  the  people  are  not  materially  atiected, 
and  in  which  they  are  not  rendered  more  scanty  and  precarious,  by  the  crowds 
of  horses  which  are  unnecessarily  kept;  and  which  are  maintained  in  conse- 
quence oi  the  nature  of  the  siibsisting  ^over7ime7ils,{he  ])reva.\ex\ce  of  false  ideas, 
and  the  extreme  inequality  which  exists  helxoeen  the  different  rajds  of  society" 
(vol.  ii.  p.  90.)  "It  surely  is  no  very  improbable  supposition  (now  that  the 
spirit  of  political  inquiry  has  arisen  in  Europe,  and  the  minds  of  men  are 
turned  with  so  much  eagerness  to  the  examination  of  the  nature,  and  the  com- 
parative advantages, of  the  dilierent  governments,)  that  the  time  is  not  far 
distant,  when  genuine  Christians  will  in  general  view  the  existinji  Sflvcrnmcnts 
of  the  European,  continent  as  decidedly  antichrislian;  and  when  many  (^(  them 
will  take  an  active  part  in  substituting  in  their  place  political  institutions 
which  do  not  violate  the  laws  of  the  gospel."  "Of  the  abuses  that  exist  in  the 
•world  a  large  part  arise  from  the  tyranny  of  the  rich  over  the  ])oor,  and  from 
the  extraac  inci/uniily  of  co7iditio?is,  an  evil  which  is  aggravated  and  engen- 
dered, by  the  maxims  and  constitutions  of  the  existing  gover7ime/ds."  (page  22t).) 
At  page  245  th<re  is  an  apology  for  and  panegyric  in  behalf  of  Bonaparte, 
which  is  too  long  to  be  quoted  here.  The  unrestricted  liberty  of  conscience 
granted  by  hira  constitutes  him  a  saint  in  the  eyes  of  Mr.  Vint. 


230  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

to  establish  them  in  their  place.  These  writers  lose  sight  of 
two  important  truths;  viz.  that  the  agency  whereby  these 
things  are  to  be  effected  is  of  an  infidel  character,  (as  will  be 
shewn  hereafter;)  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  feared  that  many  of 
those  who  exultingly  take  this  view  have  insensibly  imbibed 
some  of  the  more  specious  of  infidel  principles,  derived  from 
their  communion  with  Socinians;  for  *'a  little  leaven  leavens 
the  whole  lump. "  The  other  fact  lost  sight  of  is,  that  although 
existing  thrones  and  ecclesiastical  establishments  will  be  over- 
turned, it  will  not  be  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  a  millen- 
nium of  republicanism  and  schism, — so  that  men  may  every 
where  govern  themselves  and  walk  in  religion  and  politics 
according  to  what  is  right  in  their  own  eyes;  but  they  will  be 
shaken  and  removed  in  order  to  set  up  in  their  place  a  universal 
ciiurch  and  monarchy, — a  union  of  church  a,nd  state  in  the 
most  extensive  and  complete  sense  of  the  term.  It  will  be  a 
church  and  empire  which,  in  every  respect,  as  regards  disci- 
pline and  polity,  will  be  the  reverse  of  the6eaz<  ic/e«/ of  modern 
liberals.  For  ''thus  saith  the  Lord, God;  remove  the  diadem, 
and  take  off  the  crown:  this  shall  not  be  the  same;  exalt  him 
that  is  low,  and  abase  him  that  is  high.  I  will  overturn,  over- 
turn, overturn,  and  it  shall  be  no  more,  until  HE  come  xvhose 
RIGHT  it  is;  and  I  will  give  it  Him."  Ezek.  xxi.  26,  27. 
Nothing  can  be  more  absolute  than  the  manner  of  this  king- 
dom, as  shadowed  forth  by  the  type  of  Christ,  Joseph;  who 
had  all  things  put  under  him,  (he  only  excepted  who  did  put 
all  things  under  him:  compare  Gen.  xli.  40.  and  1  Cor.  xv.  27.) 
and  who  used  his  authority  in  bringing  the  whole  empire — 
the  inhabitants,  their  money,,  their  cattle,  and  their  lands — 
into  the  possession  and  under  the  most  entire  subjection  of 
Pharaoh.  The  reign  of  Solomon,  another  type,  was  likewise 
exceedingly  absolute;  (I  Kings  xii.  4.)  and  it  has  been  shewn 
at  pages  153  and  205  that  the  people  of  God  will,  in  subjection 
to  Christ,  be  partakers  of  his  power,  and  rule  the  nations  with 
a  rod  of  iron.* 

*  It  is  not  all  dissenters,  who  liave  written  upon  prophecy,  that  take  up  the 
views  I  have  here  deprecated.  The  names  of  Cuninghame,  Thorpe,  Ander- 
son, Cox,  and  Tyso,  stand  out  in  striking  contrast  to  the  majority  of- this 
school.  Some  ofthe.se  doubtless  entertain  strong  sentiments  on  the  subject  of 
ecclesiastical  establishments  and  church  government  and  authority  under  the 
present  dispensation.  Mr.  Anderson,  indeed,  carries  his  principles  in  this 
respect  to  an  extent  which  I  have  not  yet  met  with  in  any  dissenter;  but  he 
manifests  an  admirable  candour  and  desire  of  truth  throughout;  whilst  his 
views,  in  regard  to  the  authority  and  connexion  of  church  and  state  during  the 
Millennium,  are  so  apposite  in  the  way  of  illustration  of  the  case  in  hand,  that 
I  cannot  forbear  giving  a  quotation  from  Part  ii.  of  his  "Apology  for  Millen- 
nial Doctrine."  At  page  41,  he  lays  down  the  following  proposition.  "In  the 
days  of  the  Stone  [i.  e.  the  Km<rdmn  of  the  Stone,  Dan.  ii.  34,  35.]  the  Church, 
in  addition  to  the  power  which  she  at  present  exercises  over  the  conscience, 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    931 

Seeing  however  what  discordant  views  have  been  taken  of 
the  Apocalypse  at  different  periods,  and  even  by  different 
writers  in  the  same  age,  some  are  disposed  to  abandon  the 
study  of  the  book  altogether,  on  the  assumption  that  to  arrive 
at  a  correct  understanding  of  it  is  impossible;  whilst  others  are 
led  to  infer  from  these  discrepancies,  that  none  of  the  interpre- 
tations as  yet  advocated  contain  any  truth,  but  that  the  whole 
fulfilment  must  be  yet  future,  and  will  be  so  striking  when  it 

shall  be  invested  with  all  that  power  over  the  bodies  of  men  and  their  external 
circumstances,  which  is  at  present  exercised  by  the  kings  of  the  earth.''  He 
then  proceeds  to  explain: — "In  that  time  there  will  be  no  division  of  power  into 
civil  and  ecclesiastic,  for  the  lehole  shall  be  ecclesiastic.  Not  only  will  the  whole 
be  conducted  by  churchmen,  which  magistrates  may  be,  and  in  some  happy 
cases  are,  at  present;  but  the  magistracy  itself  shall  be  of  the  church,  acknow- 
ledging no  other  head  than  Christ,  and  no  other  interests  than  those  of  his 
royalty."  Then  after  a  long  quotation  from  Tiliinghast  in  support  of  his 
view,  he  thus  continues: — 

'"Let  it  be  primarily  observed  then,  that  the  matter  of  dispute  which  lies 
between  us  and  our  opponents  is  not,  whether  in  the  days  of  the  Stone  and 
Mountain  Christ  shall  have  a  spiritual  dominion  over  the  hearts  of  men. 
Whoever  may  represent  this  to  be  the  state  of  the  controversy  does  it  either 
most  ignorantly  or  slanderously.  We  are  second  in  zeal  to  no  part}'  in  advo- 
cating the  internal  holiness  and  deeply-toned  spirituality  of  the  millennial 
kingdom; — all  the  denial  lies  with  the  opposite  party,  who  will  not  believe,  that, 
in  addition  to  this  reign  over  the  heart,  the  Redeemer  shall  be  put  in  posses- 
sion of  the  external  government  of  the  world,  administered  by  his  church.  We 
maintain,  that  under  the  approaching  dispensation  he  shall  exercise  «iZ  power; 
they  maintain  that  he  shall  continue  to  put  forth  only  a  part  of  power.  Be- 
side the  power  he  now  has  in  the  Church,  ve  claim  for  him  the  administration 
of  the  Slate— that  all  law  be  consolidated,  and  made  Church  law;  they  refuse 
this  claim,  and  plead  on  behalf  of  the  kings  of  this  world,  that  matters  should 
be  permitted  to  continue  as  at  present — the  Church  having  one  government 
administered  by  the  power  and  in  the  name  of  God;  the  State  with  another, 
separate  and  distinct,  administered  by  the  power  and  in  the  name  of  the  Wil- 
liams, the  Philips,  the  Ferdinands, "and  the  Miguels  of  this  earth:  only,  say 
they,  let  there  be  such  good  agreement  between  the  two  parties,  (kings  and 
parliaments  and  magistrates  being  personally  Christian  men,)  that  the  power 
of  the  State  shall  never  be  exercTsed  to  the  detriment  of  the  Cmirch,  but  rather 
for  the  protection  of  her  members  in  the  civil  rights  of  conscience.  The  sup- 
position of  a  case,  and  a  statement  of  the  different  ways  in  which  it.  would  be 
dealt  with  according  to  the  two  systems,  will  more  distinctly  illustrate  wherein 
we  and  our  opponents  disagree.  Suppose  that  in  millennial  times  a  man  were 
to  contest  the  doctrine  of  Mc  roi/alli/  of  Christ;  according  to  the  system  of  our 
opponents,  he  would  be  dealt  with  only  as  a  heretic  or  infidel,  in  the  Avay  of 
excommunication  from  the  Church,  while  his  civil  privileges  remained  entire; 
but  according  to  our  system,  the  Church  being  invested  with  all  power,  and 
being,  in  fact,  the  Stale,  he  would  be  dealt  with  as  being  guilty  of  treason,  by 
being  cut  oflT  from  the  midst  of  the  people.  This  is  evidently  carrying  the 
matter  much  further  than  even  the  most  zealous  advocates  of  ecclesiastical 
establishments  are  at  the  present  day  disposed  to  proceed.  They  stop  short  of 
this  conclusion,  in  which  their  fundamental  principle  involves  them,  if  con- 
sistently prosecuted  to  a  termination.  It  is  among  my  brethren,  however,  of  the 
Dissenting  communion,  that  the  strongest  objections  will  be  made  to  our  rep- 
resentations of  the  external  power  of  the  Church;  for  I  know  that  with  some 
of  them  the  very  beau  ideal  of  millennial  glory  is,  that  all  State  establishments 
of  religion  shaft  be  prostrated  to  the  dust,  so  as  to  rid  the  spiritual  institution 
of  all  secular  contamination." 


232    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

does  take  place  as  to  leave  no  question  on  the  minds  of  any 
that  it  is  the  true  one.  Both  these  conclusions  are  apparently 
erroneous.  The  first  is  decidedly  so,  seeing  that  it  is  opposed 
to  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  declares  the  blessed- 
ness of  those  who  read  and  who  hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy. 
Rev.  i.  3.  And  as  regards  the  second, — "Show  me  the  ques- 
tion (says  Bishop  Hurd)  in  religion,  or  even  in  common  morals, 
about  which  learned  men  have  not  disagreed;  nay — show  me 
a  single  text  of  Scripture,  though  ever  so  plain  and  precise, 
which  the  perverseness  or  ingenuity  of  interpreters  has  not 
drawn  into  different  and  often  contrary  meanings?  What  then 
shall  we  conclude — That  there  is  no  truth  in  religion? — no  cer- 
tainty in  morals? — no  authority  in  sacred  Scripture?  If  such 
conclusions  as  these  be  carried  to  their  utmost  length,  in  what 
else  can  they  terminate,  but  absolute  universal  scepticism?" 
Vol.  ii.  page  60. 

It  has  already  been  shewn  (p.  116)  that  some  of  the  prophe- 
cies are  not  likely  to  appear  more  plain  and  convincing  to 
sceptical  minds,  after  they  are  fulfilled,  than  they  were  before, 
seeing  that  the  very  design  of  the  Spirit  has  been  to  veil  them 
in  symbol  and  enigma.  Morever,  that  discrepancy  is  not  so 
great  as  is  alleged:  the  more  eminent  commentators  do  in 
general  agree  in  their  interpretation  of  certain  principal  fea- 
tures of  prophec}';  and  in  regard  to  almost  all  of.them,  though 
we  may  not  be  able  to  follow  the  general  thread  of  their  inter- 
pretation, yet,  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  says,  in  his  work  on  the 
Apocalypse — "there  is  scarce  one  of  note,  who  hath  not  made 
some  discovery  worth  knowing:"  (p.  253)  there  is  at  least 
something  in  the  works  of  those,  who  are  not  mere  copyists, 
calculated  to  furnish  a  help  or  a  hint  in  some  point  or  other. 

The  principle  however,  like  every  other,  may  be  carried  too 
far.  The  Rev.  II.  Girdlestone,  in  his  able  and  erudite  work 
on  the  Epistles  to  the  seven  Churches,  says  of  the  discordance 
of  commentators  on  the  Apocalypse, — "They  disagree  like  the 
clocks  of  a  great  city,  in  the  minutes,  not  in  the  hour:  their 
disagreement  is  less  than  their  agreement.  He  that  under- 
stands our  common  Christianity  knows,  that  with  an  almost 
infinite  variety  of  opinions  upon  secondary  and  minor  points, 
there  is  almost  an  universal  consent  on  first  principles."  Pref. 
X.  But  surely  it  is  something  more  than  a  difference  on  mi- 
nute and  secondary  points  when  one  expositor  assumes  almost 
the  entire  Apocalypse  to  be  fulfilled,  and  another  considers  the 
whole  to  be  future.  On  no  fundamental  ])rinciple  scarcely  can 
we  concur  with  Wetstein  (for  example);  wjio  refers  the  whole, 
as  has  been  stated,  to  the  earliest  jjeriod  of  Cliristianity.  He 
makes  the  Millennium  to  consist  of  a  period  oi  forhj  years  only; 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    033 

on  which  hypothesis  it  neither  agrees  with  literal  time,  nor 
with  any  admitted  principle  of  interpreting  symbolical  time; 
and  he  must  of  necessity  refer  the  seals,  the  trumpets,  the  vials, 
the  Antichrist,  and  every  other  prominent  feature,  to  events 
and  persons  which  the  great  majority  of  commentators  entirely 
reject. 

It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  the  generality  of  inter- 
pretations may  be  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  reconciled.  It 
would  appear  from  the  controversies  which  have  taken  place 
upon  some  features  of  the  Apocalypse,  that  the  very  structure 
of  it  was  such  as  designedly  to  present  in  some  instances  an 
ambiguous  aspect,  so  as  to  render  an  application  of  parts  of  it 
to  more  events  and  periods  than  one  justifiable  in  certain  in- 
stances. Let  any  one  read,  for  example,  the  discussions  which 
have  taken  place,  whether  the  number  of  the  beast,  (Rev.  xiii. 
IS,)  belong  to  tlie  ten-horned  beast  or  the  two-horned  beast; 
and  he  will  be  perplexed  to  know,  amid  the  plausible  argu- 
ments for  both  opinions,  to  which  he  is  to  ascribe  it:  though 
this  is  a  point  which  is  really  independent  of  historical  events, 
and  is  to  be  determined  rather  upon  abstract  and  critical 
grounds.  The  same  may  in  a  measure  be  said  in  regard  to 
other  points;*  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  many  able  commenta- 
tors, that  the  whole  prophecy  is  so  constructed  as  to  be  easily 
applicable  to  the  struggles  of  Christianity  with  Paganism  at  an 
early  period,  with  Popery  at  a  later  period,  and  with  Infi- 
delity in  the  last  days;  whilst  others  can  see  these  three 
periods  of  trial  distinctly  and  separaldij  shadowed  forth.  Mr. 
Habershon,  in  his  recently  published  "Dissertation  on  the 
Prophetic  Scri])tures,"  shews  that  many  of  the  discrepancies 
of  interpreters  with  regard  to  f/a/t,'5  may  be  reconciled  on 
Scriptural  principles;  and  it  may  consequently  be  hoped,  that 
in  proportion  as  the  principles  of  interpretation  are  more 
attended  to,  and  become  more  understood,  many  apparent 
difficulties  and  discrepancies  may  be  removed.  The  great 
point  for  the  student  of  prophecy  to  attend  to  is  to  become  well 
acquainted  with  tlie  text  and  facts  of  prophecy,  both  as  con- 
tained in  the  Apocalypse  and  other  prophets  likewise;  and 
then  he  will  be  at  least  prepared  to  detect  false  and  irrecon- 
cileable  interpretations  on  the  one  hand;  and  to  discover  analo- 
gies and  parallelisms,  which  offer  a  key  to  interpretation,  on 
the  other, 

3.  This  leads  to  a  few  remarks  respecting  the  proper  mode 
of  studying  the  Apocalypse.     The  first  thing  is,  to  be  satisfied 

*  Bengelias,  for  example,  considers  the  woe  in  Rev.  xiv.  9 — 11,  applicable 
to  two  ditFerent  subjects;  and  this  he  infers  on  abstract  principles. 
VOL.  II.— 20 


934   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

of  the  literal  meaning  of  the  words  of  the  text;  which  should 
be  carefully  examined  in  the  Greek,  (if  the  student  be  ac- 
quainted with  it,)  and  determined  beforehand,  and  not  in  the 
course  of  his  interpretation,  when  he  is  liable  to  be  warped  by 
his  system,  and  induced  to  force  a  signification  on  a  word 
which  is  not  obvious,  and  which  he  would  not  otherwise  have 
resorted  to.  The  second  thing  is  to  search  for  synchronisms 
and  parallelisms  and  such  other  indices  in  the  work  itself  as 
are  calculated  to  throw  light  on  the  order,  connection,  and 
period  of  the  visions.  This  is  a  most  important  preliminary 
work,  and  may  be  pursued  by  the  reader  who  is  acquainted 
only  with  the  English,  with  considerable  success  and  profit. 
The  eminent  Joseph  Mede  would  not  venture  on  the  interpre- 
tation of  any  of  the  visions,  till  by  the  demonstration  of  his 
synchronisms  he  had  fixed  the  order  and  series  of  them;  and 
he  has  left  us  a  work  on  this  subject  alone;  which,  though  the 
further  investigation  and  research  of  succeeding  students  have 
shown  that  it  cannot  be  followed  in  all  particulars,  is  never- 
theless deservedly  held  in  estimation  by  students  of  prophecy. 
An  inquiry  of  this  sort  into  the  internal  marks  and  notices  of 
the  work  is  altogether  distinct  from  interpretation,  though  a 
most  valuable  and  necessary  preparatory  aid  to  it,  and  what  no 
sound  and  judicious  expositor  would  wilfully  neglect.  Bishop 
•  Hurd,  who  has  been  before  quoted,  observes,  in  regard  to  the 
order  and  period  of  the  visions,  which  is  there  to  be  ascer- 
tained: "The  knowledge  of  this  order  is  a  great  restraint  on 
the  fancy  of  the  expositor;  who  is  not  now  at  liberty  to  apply 
the  prophecies  to  events  of  any  time  to  which  they  appear  to 
suit,  but  to  events  only  falling  within  that  time  to  which  they 
belong  in  the  course  of  this  predetermined  method.  And  if  to 
this  restriction,  which  of  itself  is  considerable,  we  add  another, 
which  arises  from  the  necessity  of  applying,  not  one,  but  many 
prophecies  (which  are  thus  shown  to  synchronize  with  each 
other)  to  the  same  time,  we  can  hardly  conceive  how  an  inter- 
pretation should  keep  clear  of  these  impediments,  and  make 
its  way  through  so  many  interfering  checks,  unless  it  be  the 
true  one."     On  Proph.  vol.  ii.  130. 

A  third  step  (or  it  may  be  made  the  seco?id  step  with  equal 
advantage)  is  to  examine  by  a  careful  comparison  of  scripture 
the  meaning  of  the  various  symbols,  metaphors,  and  figurative 
expressions,  by  which  the  precise  signification  is  veiled  more 
or  less  in  enigma;  and  where  a  symbol  or  hieroglyphic  is  fairly 
susceptible  of  more  than  one  interpretation,  it  is  to  be  carefully 
marked  down.  Sometimes  a  clear  and  explicit  interpretation 
of  a  figure  or  symbol  is  to  be  met  with  in  one  part  of  scripture; 
from  which  it  would  seem  unwarrantable  to  deviate,  when  the 


ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    335 

same  symbol  is  met  with  in  other  parts  without  the  interpre- 
tation; and  sometimes,  though  no  explicit  interpretation  is  to 
be  met  with,  yet  will  something  be  found  likened  to  the  same 
thing,  in  the  way  of  similitude,  which  is  elsewhere  used  abso- 
lutely as  a  hieroglyphic  or  symbol,  or  wiiich,  indeed,  from  the 
frequency  of  its  use,  may  in  some  instances  be  viewed  as  a 
tropical  expression.*  In  this  manner  the  figurative  language 
of  scripture  may  be  reduced  to  rule,  and  a  dictionary  might  be 
constructed  on  such  principles  as  would  enable  the  student  at 
once  to  proceed  to  the  preliminary  task  of  translating,  as  it 
were,  the  symbols,  and  by  this  means  so  paraphrasing  the  text 
as  to  throw  considerable  light  and  clearness  upon  the  meaning 
of  the  prophecy,  and  so  afford  a  greater  additional  safeguard  to 
erroneous  interpretation. 

Such  a  dictionary  is  still  a  desideratum,  constructed  upon  the 
rigid  principle  of  scriptural  analogy.  There  are  many  valua- 
ble observations  upon  symbolical  language  to  be  found  in  the 
writings  of  Mede,  More,  Daubuz,  Hurd,  Faber,  Cuninghame, 
and  Frere.t  Some  of  these  have  given  sufficient  of  a  diction- 
ary to  enable  them  to  interpret  that  portion  of  the  prophecies 
which  they  have  taken  in  hand;  but  their  explanations  are  in 
many  instances  fanciful  and  arbitrary,  and  adopted  with  an 
evident  view  to  the  interpretation  which  is  previously  resolved 
upon  in  their  own  minds:  so  that  the  meaning  of  the  symbol 
is  determined  b}^  the  interpretation,  and  not  the  interpretation 
by  the  meaning  of  the  symbol.  To  give  an  instance:  Mr. 
Frere,  in  his  "Combined  View,"  gives  us  the  following,  in  the 
chapter  headed  "Symbolical  Dictionary."  "77?e  third  part  of 
the  Earth — the  Eastern  Roman  Empire,  of  which  Constantino- 
ple was  the  capitol,  being  that  portion  which  fell  to  Constan- 
tine  on  the  division  of  the  empire  by  Constantine  the  Great 
among  his  three  sons."  (p.'Sl.)  ''The  great  River  Euphrates  — 
The  Turkish  Empire,  which  first  arose  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  that  river."  (p. ,81.)  Now  the  references  in  support  of  these 
explanations  are,  in  the  first  instance,  to  Rev.  viii.  7 — 12,  ix. 
15 — IS,  xii.  4;  and,  in  the  latter,  to  Rev.  ix.  11,  xvi.  12; 
which  are  nothing  more  than  places  in  which  the  same  expres- 
sions occur,  without  the  slightest  evidence  that  the  meaning 
which  Mr.  Frere  affixes  to  them  is  the  true  one.  J  These  are 
passages  to  which  the  key  is  rather  to  be  applied,  than  that 

*  See  the  observations  and  instances  illustrative  of  this  point,  at  pages  101 
and  103  of  this  volume. 

t  Schoettgen  may  also  be  consulted  with  advantage,  and  likewise  Glass's 
Philolngia  Sacra. 

t  Mr.  Faber,  aud  some  other  commentators,  understand  by  (he  third  part  of 
the  earth,  the  whole  of  the  Roman  empire,  both  eastern  and  u-estern;  but  on  no 
better  ground. 


236    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

they  are  the  key  itself.  When  he  tells  us  (p.  82.)  "that  stars 
are  the  apostles,  hishops,  ministers,  &c.  of  the  church  of 
Christ,"  and  refers  us  to  Rev.  i.  20.  it  is  satisfactory,  because 
it  a])pears  a  plain  scriptural  authority  for  the  interpretation: 
nor  is  it  meant  to  be  asserted  in  this  place,  that  Mr.  Frere  has 
assigned  erroneous  significations  to  the  two  former  expressions; 
but  that  no  reader,  unacquainted  with  the  profane  history  of 
the  matter,  and  with  the  application  of  it  made  by  Mr.  Frere, 
could  possibly  have  discovered  that  the  third  part  of  the  earth 
was  the  eastern  Roman  empire,  and  the  river  Euphrates  the 
Turkish  empire.  If  they  can  be  afterwards  made  to  appear  so, 
it  can  only  be  b}^  a  proof  derived  from  the  sijstem  of  interpreta- 
tion of  the  author,  aiid  not  from  any  abstract  principles  of 
scripture,  which  can  be  judged  of  and  produce  conviction  in- 
dependently of  the  interpretation.  Numerous  instances  of  the 
same  sort  might  be  given  from  Mr.  Faber,  who  far  exceeds 
Mr.  Frere  in  the  arbitrary  character  of  his  explanation  of  the 
symbols. 

The  most  copious  and  learned  dictionary  of  symbols  is  that 
compiled  chiefly  from  the  writings  of  Daubuz  by  the  editor  of 
the  abridged  edition,  the  Rev.  P.  Lancaster.  It  is  defective, 
however,  as  frequently  basing  the  authority  for  the  explanation 
on  the  writings  of  heathens:  for  it  seems  contrary  to  every 
just  notion  of  divine  co'nsistency  to  suppose  that  a  prophetical 
revelation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  cannot  be  properly  understood 
without  the  study  of  authors  whose  writings  must  familiarize 
us  with  things,  which  the  same  Holy  Spirit  admonishes  us 
against.  The  utmost  that  can  be  said  for  the  writings  of  such 
authors  is,  that  they  afibrd  collateral  proof,  in  confirmation  of 
an  argument,  and  may  be  adduced  for  critical  uses;  but  to  base 
upon  them  any  portion  of  the  interpretation  of  divine  revela- 
tion appears  altogether  at  variance  with  Christian  principle.* 
For  this  reason  Mr,  Faber's  whole  system  of  interpretation 
seems  to  offend,  and  has  been  justly  censured  by  Mr.  Cuning- 
hame.     For  he  goes  still  farther,  inasmuch  as  it  is  actually  ne- 

*  The  heathen  writers  who  have  been  resorted  to  by  the  learned  for  the 
illustration  of  symbols  are  the  Egyptian  Horapollo  and  Manetho  who  was  a 
priest  of  Heliopolis  about  2.58  B.  C.  There  is  a  Greek  translation  of  the 
Treatise  of  the  former  on  Hieroglyphics  still  existing;  of  the  latter  only  some 
fragments  remain  of  an  historical  work,  written  by  him  at  the  command  of 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  But  chiefly  the  Oneirocritica  by  Achmet,  an  Arabian 
writer,  has  been  quoted.  Bishop  Hurd  supposes  that  tiie  Israelites  derived 
their  knowledge  of  symbols  and  hieroglyphic  writing  from  the  Egyptians, 
during  the  period  of  their  bondage  with  ihem;  (vol.  ii.  p.  85.)  a  notion  not  at 
all  improbable.  But  it  docs  not  therefore  justify  the  bringing  the  Egyptian 
superstitions  prominently  forward.  It  is  enough  to  look  for  the  i)rinciplcs  and 
materials  for  interpreting  scripture  to  the  scriptures  themselves;  and  to  avail 
ourselves  of  the  derived  knowledge  of  the  Israelites  only  to  thai  extent,  for 
which  we  find  a  sanction  in  the  word  of  God. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    037 

cessary  to  become  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  the  heathen 
mythologij  before  we  can  be  enabled  to  judge  of  the  accuracy  of 
his  statements:  which  is  j)lainly  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the 
divine  injunctions  in  Exod.  xxiii.  13.  and  J)eut.  xii.  3;  by 
which  tile  children  of  Israel  were  required  so  to  abolish  idola- 
try, as  not  even  to  take  the  names  of  the  heathen  gods  into 
tiieir  mouths,  but  to  endeavour  to  root  out  every  trace  of 
them. 

]\Ir.  Faber  has,  nevertheless,  some  valuable  matter  in  his 
first  chapter,  on  the  figurative  and  symbolical  language  of  pro- 
phecy; though  even  here,  the  bias  of  system,  aided  by  a  vigor- 
ous imagination,  have  led  him  into  some  statements  which 
cannot  be  borne  out.  We  meet  with  much,  for  example,  in 
regard  to  symbols,  concerning  zoological  consistency  or  ano- 
maly; but  this  in  symbols  is  of  no  force.  They  are  often 
of  such  a  character  as  to  do  violence  to  all  consistency; — wit- 
ness a  sword  out  of  a  man's  mouth;  stars  falling  to  the  earth; 
a  woman  clothed  with  the  sun  and  the  moon  under  her  feet. 
Attention  to  consistency  of  figure  and  illustration  may  be 
needful  in  the  exposition  of  a  parable;  (though  here  also  it  has 
its  limits;)  but  not  in  hieroglyphic  symbols.*  The  principle 
of  homogeneity,  however,  in  the  use  of  symbols,  which  is  con- 
tended for  both  by  Mr.  Faber  and  Mr.  Cuninghame,  (though 
departed  from  by  the  former  in  his  interpretation,)  appears  to 
be  one  entitled  to  the  serious  regard  of  the  student.  By  this 
l)rinciple  it  is  contended  that  all  symbols  of  the  same  class 
should  have  congruous  and  consistent  interpretations;  unless 
there  be  some  notation  in  the  text  itself  directing  us  to  make 
an  exception  in  some  particular  instance.  Thus  in  regard  to 
the  four  horses  of  the  first  four  seals,  if  the  first  is  to  be  inter- 
preted as  a  kingdom,  the  remaining  three  must  be  interpreted 
in  like  manner.  And  thus  in  the  four  metals  of  the  image  of 
Daniel,  it  appears  incongruous  to  interpret  the  three  latter 
kingdoms  as  existing  through  a  succession  of  monarchs;  and 
the  first  (as  Mr.  Faber  does)  of  the  limited  reign,  or  rather  of 

*  Mr.  Faber  is  very  unhappy  in  his  illustrations  of  this  consistency,  in  the 
observations  which  he  makes  regarding  zoological  propriety.  He  says  that 
the  lion  and  the  leopard  of  Dan.  vii.  are  furnished  with  icjh^s  instead  qt' horns; 
because  though  horns  may  be  with  propriety  ascribed  to  a  he  goat,  they 
cannot  to  the  above  named  animals;  and  that  when  a  bear  is  employed  as  a 
symbol,  horns  and  wings  being  alike  incongruous,  "no  resource  is  left  to  the 
framer  of  the  hieroglyphic,  save  to  represent  the  two  constituent  kingdoms  of 
the  bear  by  his  two  sides,  the  one  appearing  more  elevated  than  the  other," 
(vol.  i.  p.  59.)  Now,  without  insisting  that  'v:ings  to  a  leopard  or  a  lion  are  as 
preposterous  in  strict  physiology  as  horns,  it  happens  that  we  have  actually 
described  to  us  by  St.  John  a  ien  horned  beast,  which  monster  is  a  combination 
of  the  lio7i,  the  leopard,  and  the  bear,  the  identical  three  animals  excepted  to 
by  Mr.  Faber,  (Rev.  xiii.  1,  2.) 
20* 


238  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

the  duration  of  the  life,  of  one  monarch  only.  This  violation 
of  consistency  or  homogeneity  is  still  more  apparent  when  he 
proceeds  to  the  interpretation  of  the  four  beasts  of  Dan.  vii. 

There  are  also  some  valuable  observations  in  Mr.  Frere's 
Symbolical  Diciio?mrij,  among  which  the  following  is  selected, 
as  worthy  of  consideration. — ''We  must  distinguish,  in  the 
Revelation  of  St.  John,  between  that  which  makes  a  part  of 
the  machinery  of  the  prophecy,  and  that  which  belongs  to  the 
prophecy  itself.  Coyimentators,  from  not  adverting  to  this 
distinction,  have  interpreted  the  silence  of  half  cm  hour,  which 
immediately  precedes  the  sounding  of  the  seven  trumpets,  as 
if  it  were  symbolical;  whereas  it  is  only  part  of  the  machinery, 
or  a  pause  in  the  representation,"  (p.  97.)  A  writer  in  the 
Investigator,  (vol.  iii.  p.  144,)  puts  the  same  matter  in  a  forci- 
ble manner:  "As  the  whole  time  of  the  visi-ons  seen  by  the 
apostle  was  clearly  the  space  of  a  single  day,  so  prophetic  ititer- 
vals  of  time  are  never  'represented  as  passing  in  the  vision,  but 
are  simply  stated  for  the  information  of  the  church;  when,  for 
the  very  purpose  of  avoiding  incongruity,  there  is  a  change 
from  vision  to  narrative,  and  then  to  vision  again.  (See  chap. 
ix.  10,  xi.  1,  2,  3,  9,  xii.  6,  14,  xiii.  5,  xx.  7 — 9.)  The  silence 
therefore  of  chap.  viii.  1.  is  single  and  peculiar,  being  unlike 
all  other  times  mentioned,  which  are  prophetic  statements  for 
our  information.  It  is  an  absolute  pause  in  the  course  of  the 
visions  themselves, — a  pause  as  of  half  an  hour,  in  visions  that 
lasted  at  the  most  for  a  single  day,  perhaps  for  only  part  of  a 
day.  If  then,  instead  of  reading  the  book,  we  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  the  record,  the  mark  of  the  close  and  recommencement 
of  the  visions  would  be  as  striking,  as  if  our  eye  in  reading 
met  with  a  blank  of  half  a  page. — "We  can  conceive  no  other 
reason  for  which  such  a  pause  should  be  made;  a  rest  in  the 
prophetic  actions  being  never  so  denoted,  but  b}^  some  voice 
(as  chap.  xi.  12)  implying  an  interval  of  time."  In  a  note  this 
writer  adds — "The  above  view  of  the  silence  in  heaven,  as  a 
pause  in  the  vision  before  commencing  afresh,  and  not  a  pro- 
phetic period,  (which  are  always  annotmced,  and  not  seen  to 
pass  in  the  vision,)  is  strongly  confirmed  by  the  indefinite  term 
Uh/A.ia>ftov,  "about  the  space  of  half  an  hour,"  in  contrast  with  all 
the  projilietic  periods,  which  are  definite;  to  denote  that  it  was 
the  ])rophet'.s  estimate  of  an  interval  for  which  he  had  no  cer- 
tain measure." 

Before  the  subject  of  symbolical  language  in  the  general  is 
dismissed,  it  will  be  proper  to  observe,  that  in  the  Apocalypse, 
as  in  Daniel,  besides  those  passages  of  a  literal  character  which 
are  interwoven  with  all  figurative  j)roj)hccy,  and  without  which 
they    could    have    no    definite    meaning, — there    is    disposed 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  039 

throughout  tlie  book  a  complete  series  of  explanatory  indices, 
whicii,  like  buoys  and  lighthouses  at  sea,  are  intended  to  afibrd 
us  special  intimation  of  our  bearings. 

Some  of  these  shall  be  instanced  for  the  information  of  the 
reader,  the  literal  expository  matter  being  marked  in  italic 
letters. 

"The  seven  stars  are  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches^  Chap, 
i.  20. 

"There  were  seven  lamps  of  fire  burning  before  the  throne, 
u-hich  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God.^'     Chap.  iv.  5. 

"In  the  midst  of  the  elders  stood  a  lamb,  as  it  had  been  slain, 
having  seven  horns  and  seven  eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits 
of  God.''     Chap.  V.  6.      See  also  Zech.  iii.  D,  and  iv.  16. 

"The  four-and-twenty  elders  fell  down  before  the  Lamb, 
having  every  one  of  them  harps,  and  golden  vials  full  of 
odours,  uhich  are  the  prayers  of  saints."      Chap.  v.  8. 

"What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white  robes?  and 
whence  came  they?" — "These  are  theij  rchich  came  out  of  the* 
great  tribi/lation,  &.C."     Chap.  vii.   13  — 16. 

"And  I  will  give  power  unto  my  two  witnesses,  &c." — 
These  are  the  tzoo  olive  trees  and  the  tico  candlesticks,  sta?iding  be- 
fore the  God  of  the  earth."  Chap.  xl.  3,  4.  The  reference  is 
evidently  to  Zech.  iv.  2,  3,  and  11 — 14,  where  matter  explana- 
tory of  the  symbols  is  to  be  found. 

"Their  dead  bodies  shall  lie  in  the  street  of  the  great  city, 
which  spiritualhj  is  called  Sodom  and  Egijpt.,  &c."     Chap,  xi.  S. 

"Let  him  that  hath  understanding  count  the  number  of  the 
beast,  ybr  it  is  the  nnmher  of  a  man,  and  his  ?iumber  is  666." 
Chap.  xiii.  18. 

"I  saw  three  unclean  spirits,  like  frogs,  come  out  of  the 
dragon,  beast,  and  false  prophet" — For  they  are  the  spirits  of 
devils,  zcorking  miracles,  Stc.      Chap.  xvi.  13,  14. 

"The  seven  heads  «?-e  seveti  mountains  on  u-hich  the  u-oman 
sitteth."     Chap.  xvii.  9. 

"The  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest — are  ten  kings."  Chap, 
xvii.  12. 

"The  waters  which  thou  sawest,  where  the  whore  silteth, 
are  peoples,  multitudes,  and  7iations,  and  tongues."  Chap.  xvii. 
15. 

"The  woman  which  thou  sawest  is  that  great  city,  trhich 
reigneth  over  the  kings  of  the  earth."      Chap.  xvii.  IS. 

"To  her  was  granted  that  she  should  be   arrayed  in    fine 


*  The  ankle  exists  in  the  original;  and  it  is  important  to  notice  it,  for  some 
think  the  allusion  in  this  passage  is  to  the  great  tribulation  spoken  of  in  Dan. 
xii.  1.  and  Matt.  xxiv.  21. 


240  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

linen,  &ic.— for  the  fine  line?!  is  the  righteousness  of  saints.'^  Chap- 
xix.  S, 

"I  am  of  thy  brethren  that  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus:  — 
"for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy.  '*  Chap.  xix. 
10. 

'•The  dragon,  that  old  serpent,  which  is  the  Devil  and  Satan.^^ 
Chap.  XX.  2. 

'^Here  is  the  patience  and  the  faith  of  the  saints."  Chap.  xiii. 
10. 

"Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints."     Chap.  xiv.  12. 

"This  is  thefrst  resurrectio?!."     Chap.  xx.  5. 

"This  is  the  second  death."     Chap.  xx.  14. 

The  four  last  of  the  above  instances,  it  will  be  perceived, 
are  not  so  much  the  interpretation  o[  symbols  as  of  the  whole  of 
a  vision,  or  part  of  a  vision.  They  are  like  the  descriptive 
titles  under  a  picture,  announcing  to  us  the  subject  of  it.  Two 
others  of  the  examples,  viz.  the  number  of  the  beast,  and  the 
seven  heads  which  are  mountains,  are  still  explained  in  an 
enigma;  but  this  is  especially  announced  to  the  reader  by — 
"Here  is  zcisdom.  Let  him  that  hath  understanding  count, 
&c." — "Here  is  the  mind  that  hath  uisdom." 

In  this  manner  then,  viz.  by  determining  the  verbal  meaning 
of  the  text,  by  studying  the  synchronisms  and  parallel  passages, 
and  by  ascertaining  the  meaning  of  the  symbols,  the  student 
may  be  prepared  for  the  interpretation  of  the  n-hole,  or  parts  of 
the  apocalypse.  And  let  it  not  be  thought  that  to  be  able 
satisfactorily  to  determine  the  meaning  even  of  a  part,  though 
it  be  only  one  single  feature  or  circumstance  of  a  vision,  is 
unimportant.  Mr.  Frere  has  remarked  that  a  correct  view  of 
the  general  system  and  outline  of  the  apocalypse,  solves  at 
once  many  of  the  minor  questions;  and  that  it  is  consequently 
much  more  profitable  to  endeavour  to  obtain  a  correct  view  of 
it  as  a  whole,  than  to  consider  only  detached  portions.^*  Mr. 
Cuninghame  also  considers  himself  entitled  to  demand  from 
an  expositor  the  interpretation  of  the  whole,  or,  at  least,  an 
outline  and  a  diagram  giving  a  synoptical  view  of  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  entire  prophecy,  before  he  will  entertain  any 
exposition  of  a  detached  part,  however  plausible.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  superior  advantage  will  lie,  where  Mr.  Frere 
has  justly  placed  it,  in  a  study  of  the  whole;  but  in  a  large 
and  complicated  prophecy,  like  that  of  the  Apocalypse,  it 
appears  to  be  important  if  we  can  obtain  a  sure  and  fixed 
interpretation  of  only  one  incident  of  it.     The  stone  which 

♦  See  his  exposition  in  th-e  Investigator,  New  Series,  vol.  i.  p.  81;  where  he 
illustrates  his  point  by  shewins;  that  a  correct  interpretation  ol'  the  epistles  to 
tlie  seven  churches  serves  to  fix  the  meaning  of  Rev.  xx.  4—6. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  241 

the  French  discovered  in  179S  near  Rosetta,  on  which  was 
an  inscription  in  hieroglyphic  and  in  the  Egyptian  and  Greek 
languages,  would  he  an  important  step,  if  it  should  ever  he 
properly  and  clearly  deciphered,  towards  the  solution  of  all 
the  hieroglyphic  writings;  and  why  should  not  similar  results 
follow,  in  regard  to  the  visions  of  St.  John,  if  only  we  could 
obtain  a  clue  for  further  developement  by  the  unequivocal 
signification  being  determined  of  any  one  part? 

The  reader  may  be  further  assured,  that  should  he  be  en- 
abled to  make  no  discovery  of  importance,  and  apparently  but 
little  progress  towards  understanding  the  interpretations  of 
others,  he  will  nevertheless  derive  much  personal  edification 
by  studying  the  Apocalypse  in  connexion  with  the  prophecies 
of  the  Old  Testament;  so  true  is  it  that  a  blessing  rests  upon 
<'him  that  readeth,  and  on  them  that  hear  the  words  of  this 
prophecy,  and  keep  those  things  which  are  written  therein." 


CHAPTER  X. 

ON    TIME    MYSTICALLY    EXPRESSED. 

There  is  one  point  connected  with  the  symbolical  language 
of  Daniel  and  St.  John,  which  it  may  be  convenient  more 
particularly  to  discuss  in  this  place,  before  proceeding  to  the 
consideration  of  the  Antichrist,  as  being  intimatel}'  connected 
with  the  controversies  on  that  subject;  viz.  the  denotation  of 
time  by  mystical  or  figurative  expressions.  JMost  of  the  popu- 
lar treatises  on  prophecy,  particularly  those  which  have  ob- 
tained since  the  Reformation,  are  based  upon  the  principle, 
that  the  dales,  which  are  for  the  most  part  used  in  these  two 
prophecies,  are  couched  in  enigmatical  terms;  but  this  opinion 
has  been  by  the  Roman  Catholics  in  former  years  vehemently 
opposed,  and  is  in  the  present  day  impugned  by  some  Pro- 
testant writers  of  considerable  learning,  talents,  and  piety. 
If  their  objections  to  this  mode  of  interpreting  prophecy  be 
valid,  and  periods  of  time  arc  always  to  be  Utcralli/  understood, 
unless  there  be  an  express  intimation  to  the  contrary, — then 
must  those  treatises  and  expositions,  to  which  allusion  has  just 
been  made,  be  discarded,  since  the  interpretations  which  they 
offer  must  of  necessity  be  ap])lied  to  wrong  persons  and  things. 
It  is  impossible,  for  example,  that  the  Papacy  can  be  viewed 


242  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

as  Antichrist,  if  it  can  be  shewn  that  the  term  of  his  duration 
was  to  be  for  no  longer  a  period  than  12G0  natural  days;  but  if 
the  days,  months,  and  times  of  Scripture  may  be  proved  to 
be  susceptible  of  a  more  extended  signification,  then  such  an 
interpretation  appears  necessary  as  will  at  least  include  the 
mystical  view  of  the  dates.  Into  this  subject,  therefore,  some 
inquiry  must  now  be  made. 

The  question  resolves  itself  into  two  principal  heads:  first, 
whether  time  may  be  viewed  at  all  as  symbolically  or  enig- 
matically expressed;  and  secondly,  if  it  may  be  so  viewed, 
what  ])ortion  of  time  do  the  terms  given  signif3\ 

1.  The  examination  of  the  first  point  will  pretty  well  deter- 
mine the  second;  but  in  proceeding  to  it,  some  excellent  re- 
marks of  Daubuz,  in  regard  to-  time  expressed  symbolically,  it 
will  be  useful  to  keep  in  view.  He  says — "It  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  we  should  give  philosophical  demonstrations  of 
these  matters;  they  will  not  bear  it." — "There  is  no  efficient 
cause  in  the  symbols,  upon  which  alone  philosophical  reason- 
ings and  demonstrations  are  grounded." — Affinity  and  simili- 
tude are  the  principles  they  go  upon." — "But  if  we  may  call 
that  a  demonstration  which  fully  proves  the  truth  of  the  pro- 
position by  such  arguments  as  are  proper  to  the  subject  matter, 
then  we  may  have  demonstration  even  in  this  matter."  Page 
53. 

We  may  now  turn  to  a  passage  in  numbers  xiv.  33,  34 — 
"And  your  children  shall  wander  in  the  wilderness  forhj 
YEARS,  and  bear  your  whoredoms,  until  your  carcasses  be 
wasted  in  the  wilderness:  after  the  immher  of  the  days  in  which 
ye  searched  the  land — fortij  days,  each  day  for  a  year — shall  ye 
bear  your  iniquities— ^/br/?/  years;  and  ye  shall  know  my 
breach  of  promise."  Here  it  is  clear  that  a  limited  period  of 
forty  days,  which  were  occupied  by  a  certain  transaction,  is 
taken  as  the  ground-work  for  determining  a  more  extended 
period  of  forty  years,  which  is  the  appointed  time  for  another 
event.  It  is  not  to  the  present  purpose  to  inquire  what  re- 
lationship there  is  between  the  searching  of  the  land  and  the 
wandering  in  the  wilderness,  that  the  one  should  be  in  some 
sort  erected  into  the  type  of  the  other;  or  at  least  that  its  term 
or  period  should  be  adopted  as  the  miniature  scale  by  which 
the  latter  should  be  measured.  I  confess  I  do  not  see  it;  but 
the  Lord  inserts  nothing  in  the  Scriptures  in  vain;  and  as  it 
would  have  been  sufficient,  were  there  no  significancy  intended 
by  this  circumstance,  simply  to  have  declared  that  the  Israel- 
ites should  wander  forty  years,  without  any  reference  to  the 
forty  days  of  searching  the  land,  it  does  appear  to  me  that 
occasion  is  here  taken  obliquely  to  bring  before  the  Church 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    243 

the  principle,  that  smaller  revolutions  of  time  may  be  viewed 
in  certain  instances  as  representing  larger  measures,  into  which 
they  may  be  expanded. 

Another  instance  is  to  be  found  in  Ezekiel  iv.  4 — 9,  wherein 
the  prophet  is  ordered  to  lie  on  his  left  side  390  days  to  denote 
the  years  of  the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Israel,  and  also  to  eat 
vile  bread  and  drink  water  by  measure  for  390  days,  and  then 
to  lie  upon  his  right  side  40  days,  to  denote  the  years  of  the 
iniquity  of  Judah:  ''I  have  appointed  thee  (saith  the  Lord) 
each  day  for  a  year."  Here  it  is  equally  plain,  that  a  certain 
number  of  days  are  appointed  to  represent  or  prefigure  the 
same  number  of  years;  so  that,  as  Ezekiel  was,  in  his  pro- 
ceedings in  other  respects,  a  sign  to  the  house  of  Israel,  (see 
ver.  3,  and  compare  chap.  xii.  6,  11,)  so  were  the  days  likewise 
a  sign,  and  in  this  instance  a  symbolical  expression  for  a  like 
number  of  years. 

The  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitland,  of  Gloucester,  who  is  the  most 
able  advocate  of  the  system  of  interpretation  which  views  time 
as  always  literally  expressed,  and  to  whose  opinions  and  wri- 
tings I  shall  consequently  have  frequent  occasion  to  refer  in 
this  chapter,  has,  in  attempting  to  make  the  subject  more 
literal  than  it  really  is,  somewhat  mystified  the  question.  He 
considers  this  latter  passage  no  warrant  for  the  mode  of  reckon- 
ing which  translates  the  Hebrew  word  day  (ev)  by  the  English 
word  year.  He  seems  to  consider  that  it  would  not  constitute 
a  warrant  for  this  mode  of  interpretation,  unless  the  prophet, 
when  directed  to  lie  forty  days,  had  actually  lied  for  forty 
years.*  But  the  question  is  not  respecting  the  translation  of  a 
word,  but  the  interpretation  of  a  si^n  or  symbol.  No  man 
would  be  justified  in  translating  the  word  leasts  (irn  in  Daniel 
vii.  3)  by  kings  or  kiiigdoms;  but  we  have  divine  warrant  for 
viewing  the  expression  a's  a  symbol,  which  in  prophetical  lan- 
guage may,  in  certain  circumstances,  but  not  in  all  circum- 
stances, be  interpreted  as  kingdoms,  (Dan.  vii.  17,  23;)  and 
there  appears  to  be  no  just  reason  why  the  word  day  may  not 
be  used  in  a  similar  manner.t  The  observation  of  Daubuz  is 
to  the  point  in  hand — ajfinity  and  similitude  are  the  principles 
upon  which  these  interpretations  frequently  proceed; — and 
when  we  can  obtain  no  express  direction  in  a  particular  pas- 
sage for  the  interpretation  of  a  word,  a  siffjicient  warrant  may 
be  obtained  by  a  careful  observation  of  other  passages.  It  may 
be  designedly  withheld  in  the  former  instance,   in  order  that 

♦  See  "An  Enquiry  into  the  Grounds  on  which  the  prophetic  Period  of 
Daniel  and  St.  John  has  been  supposed  to  consist  of  12()0  years."    p.  19. 

t  See  the  remarks  already  addressed  to  Mr.  Maitland's  view  of  this  subject 
in  the  note  at  pa^e  97. 


244   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

the  sense  may  not  be  too  obvious,  so  that  the  wicked  might 
understand;  (Dan.  xii.  10;)  yea — in  order  that  it  may  in  some 
instances  be  sealed  up  and  hidden  for  a  season  from  the  wise; 
(Dan.  xii.  9;)  but  the  principle  of  interpretation  lies  neverthe- 
less inserted  somewhere  in  the  scriptures:  not  always  in  explicit 
terms,  but  under  circumstances  which,  when  duly  considered, 
constitute  a  justifiable  precedent. 

Another  circumstance  to  be  considered  is,  that  time  cannot 
be  conveniently  represented  by  a  visible  symbol;  for  where 
events  and  circumstances  which  occur  in  time  are  represented 
by  visible  symbols,  to  introduce  distinct  symbols  shadowing 
forth  duration  would  inevitably  lead  to  confusion;  as  they 
would  be  liable  to  be  mistaken  for  some  of  the  adjuncts  of  the 
other  symbols,  or  as  additional  circumstances  connected  with 
the  events  set  forth  in  like  manner.  We  have  indeed  an  in- 
stance in  Genesis  xl.  12,  26  and  xii.  26,  in  which  three  branches 
represent  three  days,  and  /Aree6a5A;e/s  represent  three  days;  and 
seven  kine  and  seven  ears  of  corn  represent  as  many  years.  But 
these  are  not  strictly  "visible  symbols  for  periods  of  time;" 
though  they  are  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Maitland  as  having  this  sig- 
nification. (Second  Inquiry,  p.  2.)  The  branches  and  baskets, 
&c.  are,  in  their  primary  signification,  symbols  of  the  occupa- 
tions of  the  butler  and  baker  of  Pharaoh,  and  the  fat  kine  and 
ears  of  corn  denote  plenlij,  and  the  ill-favoured  kine  and  ears 
denote  a  season  of  scarcity.  That  which  represents  diiratioTi  of 
time  in  them  is  the  7iumber  of  each, — the  three  and  the  seven: 
though  why  the  three  branches  and  baskets  should  represent 
daijs,  and  the  seven  kine  and  ears  should  represent  years,  is  not 
at  all  obvious;  nor  would  it,  I  think,  have  been  understood  by 
Joseph  without  a  special  interpretation  vouchsafed  to  him  by 
the  Spirit  of  God.*  And  then,  how  inconvenient  it  would  be 
to  represent  larger  intervals  of  time  in  this  manner.  What 
should  we  do,  if,  instead  of /rro  witnesses,  prophesying  for  1260 
days,  we  had  1260,  or  rather  2520  witnesses,  to  consider  the 
meaning  of? — or  if,  instead  of  the  one  little  horn  of  the  goat, 
we  had  2300  horns?  Besides  the  difiiculty  which  the  prophet 
who  saw  the  vision  would  experience  of  readily  counting 
them,  we  might  be  led  to  multiply  the  number  of  the  king- 
doms or  powers  intended;  which,  as  before  observed,  would 
lead  to  confusion. 

The  mode  therefore  generally  taken  in  the  prophecies  of 
Daniel  and  St.  John  is  to  declare  numbers  by  a  voice, — even 

♦  It  is  possible  ihat  there  may  be  some  afllnity  between  the  mystical  num- 
bers Ihrcc  and  seven,  which  bears  a  corresponding  relationship  to  the  smallest 
and  larp;est  natural  revolutions  of  time,  comprehended  in  a  «iay  and  a  year. 
But  I  advance  this  entirely  as  conjecture. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   245 

though  the  numbers  themselves  may  in  some  instances  be  ac- 
tually represented.  Thus  the  apostle  in  the  concluding  chap- 
ter of  his  visions  says,  "And  I,  John,  sazo  these  things  and  heard 
them,"  Thus  likewise,  although  he  sees  a  multitude  of  sealed 
ones,  and  a  multitude  of  horsemen,  yet  he  '^hears  the  7ittmber''  of 
them  declared  to  him,  (Rev.  vii.  4,  ix.  16,  17;)  and  so  in  other 
instances,  the  period  of  the  duration  of  the  things  symbolized 
is  expressed  by  a  voice  declaring  it.  Rev.  xi.  2,  3,  xii.  6,  xiii. 
15,  &c.  So  also  in  Dan.  viii.  13,  14,  after  the  action  o(  the 
vision  has  been  exhibited  to  the  prophet,  one  saint  speaks  to 
another  saint  for  the  purpose  of  eliciting  the  time  of  the  vision; 
and  he  hears  the  reply — "unto  2300  days." 

And  here  it  is  important  to  observe  two  things.  First,  the 
nature  of  the  case  requires,  that,  in  general,  the  declaration  of 
the  time  or  duration  of  an  event  should  be  kept  separate  from 
the  description  of  the  event  itself,  and  form  an  appendix  to  the 
vision.  For  the  want  of  observing  this,  some  hypercritical 
remarks  have  appeared  on  both  sides  the  question  in  dispute. 
For  in  regard  to  some  of  the  terms  used  it  is  contended,  that 
they  occur  in  the  explanatory  parts  of  a  vision,  and  therefore 
must  be  as  literally  expressed  as  the  other  portions  of  the  expla- 
nation. But  though  they  do  not  occur  in  that  portion  of  a 
vision  which  describes  its  action,  yet  are  they  not  a  portion  of 
the  explanation.  Thus  in  Dan.  vii.  there  is  no  hint  as  to  time 
in  the  description  of  the  vision,  either  b}'  symbol  or  otherwise, 
and  therefore  the  addition  of  the  time,  occurring  at  the  end  of 
the  explanatory  part,  cannot  be  called  an  explanation  of  a 
symbol  which  had  not  been  previously  given  or  declared.  In 
the  vision  of  chap.  viii.  the  2300  days  therein  mentioned  are 
immediately  annexed  to  the  vision,  and  the  explanation  follows 
after;  but  no  explanation  is  given  of  the  time.  And  what  is 
still  more  remarkable,  the  period  mentioned  in  Dan.  vii.  occurs 
again  in  chap.  xii.  together  with  other  numbers;  and  there 
both  vision  and  numbers  are  to  be  "closed  up  and  sealed  till  the 
time  of  the  end."  V'erse  9.  From  this  it  is  apparent,  that  the 
visions  could  not  be  fully  understood  by  the  generations  inter- 
vening before  the  time  of  the  end;  and  this  sealing  the  visions 
seems  to  be  principally  effected  by  casting  the  veil  of  mystery 
over  the  expressions  in  which  time  was  denoted.  Even  Daniel 
says,  "he  Jieard  but  understood  not:"  but  could  this  have  been 
the  case  had  he  not  been  left  in  doubt  in  regard  to  the  mystical 
signification  of  the  terms?* 

*  A  friend,  who  has  written  several  able  articles  in  the  Investigator,  under 

the  signature  oj"  E.,  has  suggested  to  me  an  important  observation,  which  I  do 

not  remember  to  have  met  with;  viz.  the  fact  that  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  were 

both  children  of  the  captivity,  and  therefore  many  who  were  made  acquainted 

VOL.   II. — 21 


246    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

The  other  thing  which  it  is  important  to  observe  is,  that  if 
it  be  not  generally  convenient  to  express  time  mystically  by 
visible  symbols,  there  remains  no  other  apparent  method  of 
concealing,  than,  as  Mr.  Cuninghame  justly  observes,  "by 
couching  the  number  of  years  under  the  veil  of  another  divi- 
sion or  revolution  of  time  than  that  of  years."*  It  is  the  over- 
looking this  circumstance  that  causes  the  fact  of  time  being 
symbolically  expressed  to  be  overlooked  likewise.  We  at 
once  perceive  that  there  is  no  natural  relation  between  a  wild 
beast  and  a  kingdom,  and  therefore  are  immediately  led  to 
consider  it  as  a  symbol ;  and  so  of  other  symbols.  But  there  is  a 
natural  relation  between  the  symbols  by  which  time  is  desig- 
nated and  the  actual  period  intended,  (as  between  a  day  and  a 
year;)  so  that  the  attention  is  not  immediately  directed  to  the 
fact  of  its  being  a  symbol,  because  there  is  an  obvious  and  con- 
sistent sense  in  the  symbol  itself,  without  seeking  for  another. 
But  for  this  cause  it  is  the  more  likely  to  be  a  means  of  veiling 
or  concealing  from  generations  the  meaning  of  a  vision.  And 
though  the  terms  in  which  time  is  expressed  are  not  so  ob- 
viously symbolical;  yet  are  there  various  considerations  which 
will  lead  a  careful  and  reflecting  reader  to  discover  or  suspect 
that  they  are  to  be  so  understood.  There  is  an  excellent  re- 
mark in  Daubuz  concerning  the  analogy  which  may  be  ex- 
pected between  the  symbols  and  descriptive  expressions  of 
scripture,  which  will  serve,  in  some  measure,  further  to  illus- 
trate this  point.  "It  would  be  monstrous  and  indecorous  (he 
observes)  to  describe  a  beast  ravaging  during  the  space  of  1260 
years;  or  a  witness,  which  is  a  man,  prophesying  so  long;  or  a 
womati  dwelling  in  the  wilderness  so  many  years.  Therefore, 
that  the  duration  of  the  events  may  be  represented  in  terms 
suitable  to  the  symbols  of  the  visions,  it  is  reasonable  to  expect,  that 
the  symbols  of  duration  be  also  drawn  in  miniature,  or  in  a 
proportionable  arithmetic  to  the  symbols  of  the  event,  which 
arc  also  drawn  in  miniature.  So  that  as  a  lion,  a  leopard,  a  bear, 
may  represent  vast  empires,  and  a  woman  the  whole  church, 
and  the  like,  it  is  more  proportionable  to  the  nature  of  those 
things  that  are  thus  used  for  symbols  to  express  their  acts  by 
such  short  measures  of  time,  as  bear  the  same  proportion  to 
the  duration  of  that  great  event  which  is  represented  by  such 
small  matters." — "If,  therefore,  it  is  proper  in  the  symbolical 
language  to  represent  the  extent  of  things  in  miniature,  why 


with  the  visions  of  Daniel,  and  also  Daniel  himself,  must  have  Wen  familiar 
■with  the  circumstance  of  Ezekiel's  having  so  recently  been  Jymg  for  430  days 
o:i  his  side,  to  typify  thereby  430  years. 

*  Strictures  on  Mr.  Maitland's  Pamphlet,  p.  14. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  247 

shall  we  think  it  improper  to  represent  their  duration  in  a  pro- 
portionable manner,  by  revolutions  of  time  shorter  in  propor- 
tion than  the  event  represented,"  Pages  56,  57.  As  a  farther 
illustration  of  this  he  notices  that  locusts,  whose  natural  term  of 
life  is  only  Jive  months,  are  consequently  represented  in  the 
symbol  in  the  Apocalypse,  as  lasting  only  for  that  period. 
And  this  attention  to  the  symmetry  and  proportion  of  the 
allegory  may  be  sustained  when  there  is  no  intention  of  veiling 
the  time,  farther  than  the  event  itself  is  veiled.  For  it  would 
appear  monstrous  (assuming  for  a  moment  that  a  mojith  signifies 
mystically  thirty  years)  to  represent  locusts  as  living  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  Whereas  when  the  millennium 
comes  to  be  spoken  of,  and  the  terms  of  the  allegory  involve 
no  such  inconsistency,  the  thousand  years  are  mentioned 
literally. 

2.  Passing  on  now  to  the  second  head  of  inquiry,  viz.  what 
periods  of  time  the  terms  given  generally  signify  when  mysti- 
cally expressed,  it  would  appear  from  the  two  passages  already 
quoted  from  Numbers  and  Ezekiel,  that  a  day  in  both  those 
places  is  the  term  given  to  prefigure  a  ijear.  And  this  would 
lead  us  to  the  natural  conclusion,  that  the  same  proportion  is  to 
be  observed  in  all  symbolical  or  mystical  terms.  Thus  the 
expression  in  Dan.  vii.  25.  "a  time  and  times  and  the  dividing 
of  time,"  (or  "a  time,  times  and  a  half,"  as  in  chapter  xii.  7. 
and  Rev.  xii.  14.)  forasmuch  as  it  is  generally  admitted,  that 
the  literal  meaning  of  a  tiryie  is  a  year, — may  signify,  mysti- 
cally, if  calculated  by  lunar  time,  a  period  of  1260  years.  And 
it  is  remarkable,  that  this  period  is  reiterated  in  the  scriptures 
in  seven  different  places,  and  under  three  different  forms  of 
expression,  as  42  months,  and  1260  days.  See,  beside  the 
three  places  just  quoted,  Rev.  xi.  2,  3;  xii.  6;  xiii.  5. 

Some  have  considered  that  a  time  means  mystically  a  cen- 
tury of  years;  but  any  other  measure  than  that  of  a  day  for  a 
year  would  introduce  great  perplexity  into  that  relationship, 
which  so  evidently  exists  in  the  different  terms  cited  above  to 
each  other.  The  month  is  an  easy  and  natural  division  of  a 
time  into  periods  of  30  years,  and  the  day  into  periods  of  one 
year.  But  suppose  we  adopt  the  hypothesis  of  a  time  signify- 
ing a  century,  then  we  must  understand  by  a  month  the  incon- 
venient fractional  period  of  eight  years  and  four  months;  and 
by  a  day,  three  months,  one  week,  two  days  and  one  third. 
Nothing  is  more  forbidding,  and  less  corresponding  with  the 
general  simplicity  of  scripture,  than  the  chronological  system  of 
Bengelius,  who  adopts  various  arbitrary  and  fanciful  measures 
of  time,  and-exhibits  them  in  intricate  fractional  numbers.* 
*  As  to  terms,  he  has,  besides  those  enumerated,  a  chronos,  a  half  chronos, 


248    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

But  an  appeal  may  be  made  in  this  matter  to  symbolical 
prophecies  which  are  unquestionably  fulfilled;  and  by  ascer- 
taining the  manner  in  which  the  terms  expressing  time  have 
actually  been  interpreted  by  the  event,  we  shall  be  justified  in 
concluding  the  same  principle  to  exist  in  other  prophecies. 
That  which  is  most  to  the  point,  and  which  has  therefore  been 
latterly  the  most  vehemently  assailed  by  the  advocates  of  the 
system  which  views  time  as  always  literally  expressed,  is  the 
prophecy  of  the  seventij  u-eeks  in  Daniel  ix.  These  have  been 
proved  by  the  event  to  signify  a  space  of  490  years,  as  all 
commentators  of  any  note,  both  ancient  and  modern,  have 
agreed;*  and  if  this  be  the  case,  and  the  original  expression 
does  really  mean  literally  a  week  of  days,  there  is  decisive 
proof  of  the  manner  in  which  time  may  be  understood  in  the 
book  of  Daniel. 

But  there  are  ojections  preferred  against  such  a  conclusion; 
the  most  forcible  of  which,  and  indeed  the  only  one  worthy  of 
any  consideration,  is  that  advanced  by  Mr.  Maitland,  who 
alleges  that  the  original  expression  (o^p^tf)  being  "seventy 
sevetis''  means  according  to  the  general  usage  of  the  Hebrew 
writers  seventy  sevens  of  yecvs  and  not  of  days;  and  that  to 
sustain  the  argument  which  is  built  on  this  passage  it  ought  to 
have  been  written  ''weeks  of  days.''  (Enquiry,  &c.  page  5 — 13.) 
Some  exceptions,  however,  of  great  importance  to  the  argu- 
ment, are  made  by  Mr.  Maitland  himself.  He  admits  that  the 
Feast  of  Weeks  is  mentioned  eight  times  in  the  scriptures  as 
''the  feast  of  seve7is:"  that  the  word  weeks  in  Daniel  x.  2,  3, 
where  the  prophet  says  he  was  sick  three  weeks,  is  also  an  ex- 
ception;   that  in  Lev.   xii.  5,  a  woman  after  the  birth  of  a 


and  a  non-chronos,  a  short  time  (distinct  from  "a  time")  the  number  of  the 
beast,  and  an  Aion  or  Mvum.  And  a  day  he  makes  lOQij  days;  a  month  15|-^ 
year?,  and  a  year  190|j  years.  (See  Introduction  to  his  Exposition  of  the 
Apocalypse  by  Dr.  Robertson.) 

*  It  is  remarkable,  in  regard  to  the  prophecy  of  the  seventy  weeks,  that  there 
appears  to  be  a  similar  relation  between  that  period  and  the  duration  of  a  pre- 
vious event,  as  between  the  forty  years  wandering  in  the  wilderness  and  the 
forty  days  of  the  searching  by  the  spies.  Daniel  informs  us  "that  in  the  first  year 
of  Darius  he  understood  by  books  the  number  of  the  years,  whereof  the  word 
of  the  Lord  came  to  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  that  lie  would  accomplish  seventy 
years  in  the  desolations  of  Jerusalem."  "And  I  set  (he  continues)  my  face  unto 
the  Lord  God  to  seek  by  prayer,"  &c.  And,  first,  we  may  ask,  what  was  there 
\.o  prevent  his  understanding  Jeremiah  from  the  first,  butsome  hesitation  in  his 
mind,  whether  he  were  to  understand  the  period  literally  or  mysticallyl  for 
Jeremiah  xxv.  11,  12,  and  xxix.  10.  are  both  plainly  enough  expressed.  But, 
secondly,  it  is  said,  that,  when  he  understood  this  number,  he  still  set  his  face 
to  seek;  as  if  he  conceived  that  there  was  some  mystical  relation  to  be  found  in 
the  period  notwithstanding.  And  then,  thirdly,  it  is  revealed  to  him,  that 
seventy  weeks  are  determined;  which  is  a  period  of  seventy  years  multiplied 
bv  seven. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    249 

female  is  to  be  unclean  two  sevens  or  weeks.  These  exceptions 
appear  quite  sufficient  to  outweigh  the  objection  in  its  fullest 
extent;  as  they  prove,  beyond  a  question,  that  there  is  no  need 
for  the  expression  in  the  Hebrew,  ''sevens  of  days,"  in  order  to 
convey  the  sense  of  our  English  word  weeks.  And  the  circum- 
stance that  the  word  sevens  is  used  to  express  the  Feast  of 
Weeks,  which  was  an  ecclesiastical  period,  and  connected  with 
the  Levitical  ceremonial,  renders  the  term  sevens  more  likely 
to  be  adopted  for  a  prophetical  date,  where  a  mystical  signifi- 
cation was  intended. 

And  as  Mr.  Maitland,  by  the  exceptions  he  has  himself 
allowed,  has  destroyed  the  force  of  his  own  statement,  in  re- 
gard to  sevens,  standing  alone,  signifying  weeks  of  years  rather 
than  of  days;  so  Mr.  Cuninghame  meets  him  on  the  remaining 
portion  of  his  argument,  and  challenges  the  proof  of  the  word 
j?i3c  and  its  plural  forms  ever  signifying  in  the  scriptures  a  seven 
or  sevens  of  years.  Mr.  Cuninghame  admits,  indeed,  that 
the  Rabbinical  use  of  the  word  is  in  Mr.  Maitland's  favour; 
but  he  insists  that  the  scriptural  use  of  it  is  the  direct  con- 
trary, and  that  in  all  other  places  where  the  word  stands  alo7ie 
in  the  scriptures  it  signifies  a  week  or  weeks  of  days,  and  in 
no  case  whatever  a  week  of  years,  ("Strictures,  &c.'*  p.  6.)  In 
Mr.  Maitland's  "Reply"  to  Mr.  Cuninghame  there  is  really 
no  answer  to  this:  Mr.  M.  still  asserts  indeed,  "that  the  word 
used  in  Daniel,  and  translated  'week''  properly  means  'a  seven' 
— that  is  'a  seven'  of  any  thing,  and  not  (as  our  word  iceek) 
exclusively  a  seven  of  days — and  that  therefore  that  word  may 
mean  *a  seven'  of  years  without  any  reference  to  days,  or  any 
pretence  of  mystical  interpretation."  (p.  20.)  No  instance 
however  is  given  by  him  of  its  ever  having  that  signification 
in  the  scriptures;  and  therefore  how  does  the  case  really  stand? 
Mr.  Maitland  expects  to  find  the  annunciation  of  time,  in  the 
prophecy  before  us,  to  accord  with  "the  custom  of  the.  writers 
of  the  scriptures."  If  then  in  Dan.  ix.  24.  it  did  signify  years 
it  would  actually  be  a  solitary  exception  to  their  custom,  and  at 
variance  with  the  use  of  the  word  in  other  places. 

The  most  then  that  can  be  saicj,  in  regard  to  the  prophecy 
of  the  seventy  weeks  is,  that  tfie  Jew  who  was  not  familiar 
with  the  scripture  use  of  words,  but  only  with  the  profane  or 
Rabbinical  use  of  Plebrew,  might,  and  probably  would  in  the 
first  instance,  understand  by  the  passage  in  question  severity 
sevens  of  years.  But  the  Jew.  who  was  versed  in  scripture, 
and  accustomed  to  mark  carefully  the  peculiarities  which  men 
who  wrote  and  spake  by  the  Holy  Ghost  had  adopted,  would 
in  the  first  fnstance  understand  by  the  expression  seventy  sevens 
of  DAYS.  We  are  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  history 
21* 


250    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

of  the  period  that  intervened  between  the  captivity  and  the 
comino-  of  Messiah;  but  the  probability  is,  that  an  expectation 
would  be  entertained  of  an  immediate  appearance  of  the  Christ, 
and  that  though  it  failed,  yet  that  with  every  fresh  decree  in 
favour  of  the  Jews,  or  commandment  to  restore  and  build  Je- 
rusalem, (Dan.  ix.  25.)  their  hopes  would  again  revive;*  but 
that  when  Jerusalem  was  finally  restored  and  their  polity  again 
settled,  and  yet  Messiah  appeared  not,  they  would  then  be 
forced  upon  the  profane  use  of  the  term:  or,  from  its  being 
found  connected  with  the  usage  of  the  Levitical  ceremonial, 
they  might  suspect  a  mystical  sense  to  be  included  in  the 
scriptural  use  of  it.  See  the  observations  on  the  Levitical 
ceremonial  already  brought  forward  at  page  104.  But  taking 
the  whole  of  the  circumstance  into  consideration,  and  the  pe- 
culiar character  of  the  various  passages  which  have  been  brought 
forward,  it  does  appear  to  me  that  the  Holy  Spirit  in  using  the 
word  jjuB-  in  other  places  to  signify  a  seven  of  days,  and  in 
making  the  remarkable  use  in  Numbers  and  Ezekiel  of  r/ays  as 
the  representatives  of  years,  did  thus  designedly  but  quietly 
insert  the  principle  by  which  the  church  of  a  future  age  should 
be  guided  into  a  right  apprehension  of  the  mystical  pro- 
phecies.t 

3.  It  may  be  well,  before  we  pass  on,  just  to  notice  the  opi- 
nions entertained  by  the  ancient  church  on  this  subject.  It  is 
evident  that  Josephus  did  not  understand  what  we  may  term 
the  year-day  system;  for  he  applies  the  vision  of  the  little  horn 
of  the  goat  tc  Antiochus,  as  having  taken  place  in  the  literal 
space  of  time  (Antiq.  b.  x.  ch.  11.  §  7;  b.  xii.  ch.  17.  §  6.) 
And  Irenaius  likewise  thought  that  Antichrist,  when  he  ap- 
peared, would  only  reign  three  and  a  half  years,  and  that  he 

*  There  appear  to  have  been  four  decrees  in  their  favour. — 

Isl,  of  Cyrus,  -  -  -        e.  c.  53G.    2  Chron.  xxxvi.  22. 

2nd,  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  -  518.    Ezra  vi.  1—12. 

3d,  of  the  7th  year  of  Artaxerxes,  457.     Ezra  vii.  11 — 2G. 

4th,  of  the  20lh  year  of  Artaxerxes,  444.     Neh.  ii.  1—8. 

t  I  have  laid  no  stress  upon  the  expre.ssion  "2300  days''  in  the  vision  of  the 
Ram  and  He-Goat,  in  Dan.  viii.  14.  which  is  in  the  original  "2300  evenings — 
mornings'^  (See  Margin),  though  some  have  considered  that  the  peculiarity  of 
this  form  of  expression,  and  also  of  the  phrase  "lime,  liinea,  &.C."  is  a  sufficient 
indication  that  they  are  to  be  understood  mystically.  But  this  supposition 
brings  little  or  nothing  in  the  way  oi evidence  to  the  point  contended  for. — 

Nor  have  I,  on  the  other  hand,  taken  notice  of  an  objection  to  the  expression 
"time,  times,  &c."  being  understood  mystically,  brought  from  the  fact  of  the 
"seven  times"'  of  chap.  iv.  23.  having  been  literally  fulfilled  by  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's having  been  removed  for  seven  years  from  the  sovereignly  of  his  empire: 
for  the  relation  of  an  historical  fact  in  literal  terms  is  no  reason  why  those 
same  terms  should  not  in  some  other  instance  be  mystically  u.sed.  It  inay  as 
reasonably  be  said  that  dm/s  cannot  have  a  mystical  meaning  in  chap.  xii. 
because  they  have  a  literal  "meaning  in  chap.  i.  The  utmost  tiiat  can  be  said 
is,  that  chap.  iv.  23.  shows  that  the  phrase  "lime  and  times"  cannot  have  an 
exclusively  mystical  sense. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  251 

would  be  destroyed  by  the  Lord  from  heaven,  bringing  to  the 
just  the  kingdom.  (B.  v.  ch.  30.)  The  same  opinion  was 
likewise  entertained  by  others  of  the  Fathers,  Nevertheless, 
they  were  not  without  a  notion  that  greater  periods  of  time 
might  be  comprehended  under  the  terms  commonly  used  to 
signify  smaller  periods.  Thus  Josephus  speaks  of  an  interval 
of  600  years,  which  he  calls  the  great  year.  (Antiq.  b.  i.  ch. 
3.  §  9.)  Lacetantius  makes  an  extension  of  the  term  day  in  a 
manner  still  more  "to  the  point:  "Ssepe  diximus,  minora  et 
exigua  magnorum  figuras  et  pracmonslrationes  esse;  et  hunc 
diem  nostrum,  qui  ortu  solis  occasuque  finitur,  diei  magni  spe- 
ciem  gercre,  quern  circuitus  annorum  mille  determinat."  (De 
Institut.  lib.  vii.  cap.  14.)  And  Justin  Martyr,  at  an  earlier 
period,  in  his  Dialogue  with  Trypho,  understands  by  "a  time" 
a  century;  and  conceived  therefore  that  the  Antichrist  might 
reign  350  years.  (P.  250,  edit.  Colon.)  Vitringa  informs  us 
that  Techonius,  who  is  supposed  to  have  written  about  a.  d. 
390,  reckoned  the  three  and  a  half  times  in  like  manner.  (In 
Apoc.  p.  4G4. )  Wiiilst  Theodoret  interprets  the  seven  times 
of  Dan.  iv.  13,  of  periods  of  six  mo/iths,  as  meaning  so  many 
winters  and  so  many  summers  distinct  from  each  other,  and 
refers  to  previous  interpreters  to  support  his  view.  Com.  on 
Dan.  iv.  13.  Cyprian  is  declared  by  Pontius  to  have  intended 
a  year  by  a  day  in  that  place  where,  speaking  of  the  forewarn- 
ing which  he  had  of  his  martyrdom,  he  says:  "I  understood 
that  the  sentence  of  my  passion  was  come;  I  began  to  intreat 
that  I  might  have  a  reprieve  but  for  otieday,  WW  I  could  dispose 
my  aflairs  in  a  legal  manner."  Vit.  D.  Cyp.  per  Pont,  Diacon. 
Daubuz  also  instances  a  similar  mode  of  interpreting  the  term 
day  in  the  acts  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Sadoth  and  others,  (in 
Coll.  Theod.  Ruinart.)  who  were  Persians,  where  there  is  this 
passage:  "Now  in  that  he  said — I  ascended  yesterday,  but  thou 
shalt  ascend  to-day:  this  signified,  that  he  had  suffered  martyr- 
dom the  Tjear  before,  and  that  I  should  suffer  it  and  die //u's 
year."* 

The  fact,  however,  that  the  earliest  Fathers,  such  as  Justin 
and  Irenaeus,  differ  in  their  views  of  time  in  this  instance, 
evinces  that  they  had  no  apostolic  tradition  on  the  subject;  and 

*  It  does  not  appear  whether,  in  the  two  latter  instances,  the  viewsof  the 
parties  are  derived  I'rom  the  Scriptures,  or  from  heathenish  rules  for  interpret- 
ing dreams  and  visions:  for  little  account  can  be  taken  of  the  proof  fetclied 
by  the  same  learned  author  from  Diodorus  and  Plutarch,  who  assert  ihat/owr 
months  or  a  scaaon  was  called  a  year;  nor  even  of  the  fact  that  the  Egyptians 
called  adayayert;-.  (Daubuz,  p.  55.)  Mr.  Holmes,  the  Chancellor  of  Cashel, 
in  his  work  on*'The  time  of  the  End,"  asserts  what  is  more  to  the  purpose, 
that  days  for  years  was  the  usual  ancient  Chaldaic  mode  of  reckoning;  but  he 
gives  no  authority  for  the  assertion. 


252   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

therefore  their  opinions,  inasmuch  as  they  concern  only  their 
own  private  judgment,  are  of  little  consequence.  If  Daniel 
heard  but  understood  not,  why  should  it  be  supposed  that  these 
fathers  understood?  This  part  of  prophecy  was  necessarily 
< 'closed  up  and  sealed"  from  them;  unless  it  can  be  shewn  that 
they  lived  in  that  period  specially  intended  by  "the  time  of 
the  end." 

It  was  not  till  after  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  and  the 
application  of  the  prophecies  concerning  Antichrist  to  the  pa- 
pacy, that  the  principles  of  interpreting  time  mystically  began 
to  assume  a  more  consistent  and  systematic  form.  The  earlier 
Reformers  appear  to  have  adopted  the  principle  of  interpreting 
a  time  as  a  ccnturi/.  Vitringa  informs  us  that  the  Waldenses 
did  so,  and  were  consequently,  in  a  late  period  of  their  suffer- 
ings, led  to  hope  for  their  speedy  termination,  ffom  the  per- 
suasion that  the  antichristian  power  that  opposed  them  could 
only  last  altogether  350  years.  Bengelius  asserts  that  the 
Wickliffites  and  Hussites  did  the  same;  and  that  T.  Purvajus, 
an  Englishman,  composed  from  the  .Lectures  of  Wickliffe  an 
Exposition,  in  which  he  reckons  the  thousand  years  to  have 
ended  in  1033,  and  adds  to  this  350  years  for  Antichrist.  Int. 
to  Apoc.  p.  300.  But  after  this  the  year-day  hypothesis  began 
to  obtain.  Joseph  Mede  was  one  of  the  principal  champions 
of  that  system,  and  he  was'followed  by  Homes,  Peganius,  More, 
and  numerous  others,  till  it  came  generally  to  prevail  among 
protestant  writers.  Not  but  what  there  are  eminent  excep- 
tions: Vitringa  set  aside  both  the  year-day  and  the  common 
day.  Bengelius  deprecates  the  year-day  as  the  key  of  inter- 
pretation to  some  passages  of  scripture,  adopts  it  in  regard  to 
another,  and  makes  it  a  period  of  about  half  a  common  year  in 
a  third  place.*  And  some  expositors  imagine  duration  of  time 
to  be  signified  where  it  apparently  is  never  intended:  for  ex- 
ample, Mede  considers  the  measuring  of  the  temple  and  its 
courts  in  Rev.  xi.  to  have  a  reference  to  time;  and  Bengelius, 
and  also  many  others,  imagine  the  same  in  the  number  of  the 
beast  of  Rev.  xiii.  Daubuz,  on  the  other  hand,  considers  of 
some  places,  which  are  generally  sup])osed  to  express  time 
mystically,  that  they  do  not  relate  to  duration; — as  the  terms, 
^for  an  hour,  a  day,  a  month,  and  a  year,"  Rev.  ix.  15;  which 
he  thinks  should  be  translated,  "«<  an  hour,  &;c."  as  being  only 
an  emphatical  expression  to  shew  tiie  sudden  concurrence  of 
"the  four  angels"  to  execute  their  common  design.      P.  51. 

In  the  mean  while,  as  we  approach  toward  the  great  catas- 
trophe, when  time  shall  be  no  longer,  the  Lord  appears  to  be 

*  See  papjes  147,  258,  and  212  of  the  Introduction  to  the  Interpretation  of  the 
Apocalypse  translated  by  Robertson. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    253 

casting  much  increased  light  upon  these  important  topics;*  so 
that  though  the  fancies  and  vagaries  of  men  who  give  too  much 
rein  to  the  imagination  will  never  be  reconciled,  yet  many 
apparent  discrepancies  will  be  brought  to  liarmonize  with  the 
general  plan  and  scope  of  prophecy.  J\Ir.  G.  Habershon,  in  a 
recently  published  Dissertation  on  the  Prophetic  Scriptures, 
has  demonstrated  that  there  exists  in  the  word  of  God  a  prin- 
ciple of  double  commencement  and  termination  in  regard  to 
some  of  the  chronological  periods;  and  by  analogy  he  success- 
fully shows  that  some  of  the  conflicting  epochs  in  the  writings 
of  eminent  commentators  may  be  brought  to  concur.  Another 
important  principle  to  be  kept  in  view  is,  the  high  probability, 
that  there  may  be  a  mystical  fulfilment  of  some  of  the  dates 
and  facts  connected  with  the  chronological  prophecies,  and  a 
literal  fulfilment  likewise;  (see  the  note,  page  9G;)  for  though 
the  proof,  that  time  must  always  be  restricted  to  the  literal  ac- 
ceptation of  the  terms  in  whicli  it  is  expressed,  would  neces- 
sarily shut  out  the  principle  of  interpreting  it  mystically;  yet 
the  proof,  that  we  may  justifiably  view  it  on  some  occasions  as 
expressing  duration  in  a  mystical  or  symbolical  sense,  does  not 
necessarily  shut  out  the  literal:  for  that  may  be  held  in  com- 
bination with  it,  and  a  two-fold  fulfilment  maintained.  Some 
indeed  have  already  maintained  this.  In  a  published  letter  of 
the  Rev.  John  Fletcher  of  Madeley  to  the  Rev.  John  Wesley, 
written  on  these  subjects,  he  says:  "It  is  worth  observation, 
that  as  the  tyranny  of  Antichrist  will  last  1260  years;  so  his 
last  ragi?ig,  or  that  tribulation  which  will  be  so  uncommon, 
shall  last  also  1260  common  days,  and  not  prophetical  ones; 
'because,  for  the  elect's  sake  those  days  shall  be  shortened,' 
according  to  our  Lord's  merciful  promise.  This  observation 
will  cast  a  great  light  upon  all  those  numbers,  and  prevent 
many  objections."  But  this  subject  will  more  properly  come 
before  us  in  the  next  chapter. 

*  Mr.  Cuninghame  has  recently  published  a  work  in  which  he  endeavours 
to  confirm  the  great  periods  of  Daniel  upon  the  year-day  system,  by  a  remark- 
able concurrence,  in  the  chief  of  them,  of  the  principal  astronomical  cycles. 
The  correctness  however  of  his  inductions  has  been  ably  combated  by  Mr. 
Frere  in  the  volumes  of  the  Jnvcsli<(ator,  and  compels  that  degree  of  hesita- 
tion in  regard  to  them,  which  has  prevented  me  from  bringing  them  forward 
here. 


254   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ON  THE  ANTICHRIST. 

On  no  subject  of  prophecy  has  there  been  more  difference  of 
opinion  among  expositors  of  all  ages  than  concerning  the  An- 
tichrist, and  the  principal  circumstances  and  events  connected 
with  him.  It  is  indeed  chiefly  to  this  subject,  that,  in  some 
periods  of  the  church,  the  difficulties  of  commentators  seem  to 
have  been  confined:  for  as  regards  the  coming  of  Christ,  the 
manifestation  of  his  kingdom,  the  restoration  of  the  Jews,  the 
resurrection  of  the  saints,  the  regeneration  of  the  world,  &c. 
there  has  been  at  times,  more  especially  during  the  two  first 
centuries,  a  tolerable  agreement  among  orthodox  writers.  This 
has  doubtless  arisen  in  great  measure  from  the  fact  of  the  prin- 
cipal prophecies  which  concern  Antichrist  being  veiled  (as 
noticed  in  a  former  chapter)  in  symbolical  and  figurative  lan- 
guage; by  which  the  Lord  has  designedly  kept  back  from  ages 
and  generations  a  clear  apprehension  of  many  things  connected 
with  his  developement;  and  from  the  farther  fact  (as  I  appre- 
hend,) that  the  actings  or  manifestations  of  Antichrist  belong 
to  different  periods  of  the  church,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
assumes  different  aspects,  and  comes  forth  to  view  in  connection 
with  different  persons  and  principles.  Thus  it  has  happened, 
that  whilst  some  particulars  concerning  him  have  been  fulfilled, 
— if  not  in  a  plefiari/,  yet  certainly  in  a.  primary,  sense, — others, 
which  have  had  reference  to  different  circumstances  and  times, 
or  which  at  least  wait  for  a  more  exact  accomplishment,  have 
been  wrested  by  interpreters,  and  forced  in  all  their  particulars 
into  an  accommodation  with  events  to  which  they  do  not  pro- 
perly, or  at  least  do  not  entirely,  belong. 

Some  writers  of  the  present  day  have  been  led,  from  the 
controversies  and  discrepancies  to  which  this  state  of  things 
has  given  rise,  to  conclude  that  nothing  has  as  yet  been  accom- 
plished, and  that  the  whole  therefore  of  the  prophecies  in  Da- 
niel and  St.  John  relates  to  things  future.  And  some  of  these 
writers  have  given  indication  of  a  considerable  disposition  to 
return  back  to  the  opinions  of  the  primitive  fathers,  who  in 
like  manner  are  supposed  to  have  considered  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  whole  to  be  future  in  their  days,  and  to  have 
maintained  a  unison  of  sentiment  on  these  matters  which  could 
only  have  been  the  result  of  apostolical  traditions  prevalent 
among  them.  Both  these  conclusions  I  apprehend  to  be  in  a 
measure  erroneous.     For  though  many  things  remain  yet  to 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   255 

be  fulfilled,  far  more,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  than  the  gene- 
rality of  commentators  suppose;  yet  much,  I  am  persuaded, 
has  been  accomplished  already,  as  will  presently  be  shown:  and 
though  in  some  particulars  the  early  fathers  agreed  concerning 
Antichrist,  (in  regard  to  which  it  is  but  fair  to  conclude  that 
there  was  apostolical  tradition  prevalent  among  them,  and  de- 
ferred to  as  such,)  yet  on  many  other  points  they  betray  a 
great  variety  of  sentiments,  which  shows  that  they  must  have 
been  greatly  in  the  dark  in  regard  to  them.  Some  of  these 
have  already  been  adverted  to  in  the  two  former  chapters;  c.  g. 
their  opinions  concerning  the  fourth  empire  of  Daniel,  and 
also  concerning  the  time  or  duration  of  the  visions;  and  other 
opinions  will  be  noticed  as  they  fall  incidentally  under  obser- 
vation in  the  course  of  the  inquiry  into  this  branch  of  the 
subject. 

I.  There  are  some  preliminary  particulars  which  require  to 
be  noticed,  before  proceeding  to  the  application  of  those  scrip- 
tures which  bear  upon  the  subject. 

1.  It  will  be  useful  to  make  mention,  in  the  first  place,  of 
the  principal  prophecies  which  have  been  supposed  more  espe- 
cially to  relate  to  Antichrist. 

The  Apocalypse,  then,  appears  chiefly  devoted  to  the  de- 
scription of  the  origin  and  actings  of  Antichrist,  and  of  the 
judgments  finally  poured  out  upon  him:  but  more  particularly 
chapters  xi.  xiii.  and  xvii.  have  reference  to  the  Antichristian 
powers  themselves.  Other  portions,  however,  are  interpreted 
by  different  commentators  as  setting  forth  the  same  things. 
For  example,  some  have  thought  that  the  epislles  to  the  seven 
churches  contain,  under  the  address  to  each,  a  description  of 
the  prevailing  apostacy  and  corruptions  which  were  to  charac- 
terize seven  diflerent  ages  through  which  the  church  was  to 
pass;'^  numerous  commentators  have  considered  the  four  first 
seals  (at  least  the  latter  of  these  seals)  as  referring  to  the  same; 
and  some  are  disposed  to  view  some  of  the  circumstances  of 
chap.  ix.  as  intimately  connected  with  the  beast  of  chaps,  xi. 
and  xvii. 

The  principal  matters  in  Daniel  which  relate  to  it  are  the 
Little  Horn,  which  arises  out  of  the  ten-horned  beast,  in  chap, 
vii;  the  little  horn  also  which  arises  out  of  one  of  the  four 
horns  of  the  He-Goat,  in  chap,  viii;  and  all  that  is  said  about 
the  "vile"  and  ''wilful"  person  in  chap,  xi:  though  in  regard 
to  the  latter,  there  is  a  considerable  difference  of  opinion, 
whether  the  "vile  person"  of  verse  21,  is  the  same  as  "the  king 
who  does  according  to  his  will,"  of  verse  36;  some  conceiving 

*  Brightman"  Mede,  More,  Sir  J.  Newton,  Gill,  Vitringa,  Cuninghame  and 
Girdlestone,  have  inclined  to  this  opinion. 


256   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION, 

the  description  of  the  Antichrist  to  commence  only  with  the 
latter  verse. 

Isaiah  xiv.  concerning  Lucifer  the  son  of  the  morning,  other- 
wise termed  in  this  prophecy  the  Assyrian.  Dr.  Whitley  says 
of  it — "The  entire  passage  is  prophetical,  and  is  called  by  the 
prophet  himself  hiifD  Mashal,  a  parabolic  or  figurative  prophecy, 
and  was  so  understood  by  the  Chaldee  paraphrast  and  by  the 
Syriac  and  Vulgate  versions."  P.  273.  Mr.  Begg  considers 
the  prophecy  concerning  the  "cruel  lord"  of  chap.  xix.  into 
whose  hands  the  Egyptians  are  given  over,  to  be  the  Anti- 
christ also:  but  this  has  not  been  generally  considered  so. 

Habakkuk  ii.  contains  a  description  of  him  in  the  "proud 
(or  boasting,  ostentatious)  man,"  that  enlargeth  his  desire  as 
death  a?id  hell*  and  gathereth  unto  him  all  nations.  Moreover, 
the  vision  is  for  "the  end"  or  "appointed  time:"  and  the  next 
chapter  follows  with  a  glorious  description  of  the  shining  forth 
of  the  Lord,  and  wounding  "the  head  out  (or  over)  the  house 
of  the  wicked." 

All  that  relates  to  Gog  and  Magog,  in  Ezekiel  xxxviii.  and 
xxxix.  were  by  the  fathers  in  general  referred  to  Antichrist. 
So  were  numerous  passages  in  the  Psalms,  especially  Psalm 
cix.  Likewise  in  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  2  Thessalonians  ii. 
3—10. 

Other  scriptures  abound  with  references  to  the  subject,  or  to 
the  congregation  or  agents  of  Antichrist;  more  particularly  1 
Tim.  iv.  1 — 3,  2  Tim.  iii.  1 — 9,  and  various  places  in  the 
epistles  of  Peter,  John,  and  Jude. 

2.  The  next  thing  to  be  noticed  is  the  name  Antichrist,  con- 
cerning the  meaning  of  which,  in  the  first  place,  commentators 
differ.  For  as  the  Greek  preposition  avrt  signifies  in  composi- 
tion both  contrariety  or  oppositio?i  to,  and  a?iswerablefiess  or  cor- 
respondency to;  so,  whilst  some  have  taken  it  to  signify  an 
opponent,  others  have  viewed  it  as  denoting  rather  an  imitator. 

Both  acceptations  of  the  word  however  appear  to  be  per- 
fectly reconcileable.  He  comes  as  'O  avrm/^svoc — the  opposer; 
(2  Thess.  ii.  4.)  and  ofiug-nc — the  liar,  "who  denieth  the  Father 
and  the  Son."  1  John  ii.  22.  On  the  other  hand,  whilst 
there  is  a  marked  contrast,  there  is  a  striking  correspondency 
between  the  Antichrist  and  Christ:  wherefore  Hippolytus  says, 
in  his  work  De  Antichristo,  "the  deceiver  wishes  in  every  way 
to  appear  like  the  Son  of  God;"  and  he  then  proceeds  to  show 
that  he  comes  as  a  prophet,  a  priest,  a  king,  a  shepherd,  a  lamb, 
"the  bright  and  morning  star,"  Lucifer, — but  all  spurious. 
And  thus  our  Lord  himself  leads  us  to  expect  that  many  false 

*  See  verse  5,  and  compare  Rev.  vi.  8.  and  xx.  13. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   357 

Christs  should  arise,  and  should  come  in  his  name,  saying,  "I 
am  Christ,"  and  should  deceive  many;  (Matt.  xxiv.  5  with 
24)  all  which  appear  to  be,  like  the  "many  Antichrists"  of  St. 
John,  types  of  the  hues  and  shades  of  character  which  he  who 
is  more  eminently  to  be  the  Antichrist  shall  assume. 

Other  names  are  given  to  him  in  tlie  scriptures  besides  that 
of  Antichrist;  as  ''the  man  of  sin," — "the  son  of  perdition," — 
"the  false  prophet,"  and  some  others  which  have  already  been 
incidentally  mentioned.  Andreas,  Ephraim  Syrus,  and  others 
of  the  early  Christian  writers,  commonly  denominate  him  "the 
beast"  and  "the  dragon." 

3.  From  the  various  names  which  are  given  to  him,  his 
character  and  the  nature  of  the  offices  he  will  assume,  may  be 
pretty  clearly  inferred:  but  in  regard  to  three  of  those  offices, 
viz.  prophet,  priest,  and  king, — in  which  he  more  particularly 
mimics  the  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  a  few  observations 
may  be  needful;  the  more  especially  as  some  have  concluded 
that  he  will  be  altogether  void  of  religious  profession.  There 
is  no  need  to  show  that  he  is  to  be  a  king:  that  is  universally 
concurred  in;  and  the  fact  that  he  is  described  so  repeatedly 
as  a  horn,  (which  is  a  type  of  a  king  and  a  kingdom,)  and  "the 
head  over  the  wicked,"  and  "the  king  that  doeth  according  to 
his  will,"  sufficiently  bespeaks  it.  That  he  is  to  be  a  priest 
likewise  may  be  inferred  from  Psalm  cix.  which  is  applied  in 
Acts  i.  20.  to  Judas  Iscariot,  who  was  a  type  of  Antichrist,  and 
is  therefore  called  "the  son  of  perdition."  He  was  clearly  an 
apostle  of  Christ,  though  he  proved  a  deceiver  and  betrayer  of 
his  trust;  and  the  words  of  the  Psalm — "and  let  another  take 
his  ojfice,''  are  quoted  by  St.  Peter  from  the  Septuagint,  as  re- 
ferring to  his  ministerial  office — "and  his  bishopric  let  another 
take."  And  next,  as  respects  his  being  a  prophet, it  is  remark- 
able that  St.  John,  thougii  he  brings  before  our  view  a  ten- 
horned  beast,  which  evidently  corresponds  with  the  ten-horned 
beast  of  Daniel,  does  not  afterwards  proceed,  as  in  Dan.  vii.,  to 
describe  a  little  horn  springing  up  from  among  the  ten  horns, 
but  describes  instead  of  it  a  second  beast  with  tzco  horns,* 
which  he  afterwards  calls  ^ 'the  false  prophet."  Compare  Rev. 
xiii.  12 — 17,  with  xix.  20.  Thus  he  affi^cts  the  Melchizedec 
character  of  our  Lord,  and  appears  as  a  priest  upon  a  throne. 

4.  The  fathers  were  unanimous  in  their  opinion,  that  the 
Antichrist  was  to  be  d^  person;  nor  has  the  Greek  church,  which 
in  most  respects  has  maintained  the  sentiments  of  the  fathers 

*  The  horns  are  like  those  of  a  tamb,  showing  that  its  power  is  derived  from 
Christ //(£'  Lamb,  being  in  fact  an  usurpation  of  his  name  and  prerogative; 
and  for  his  nanTc  and  church  he  affects  to  exercise  it.     He  comes  in  sheep's 
clothing,  but  is  inwardly  a  ravening  wolf. 
VOL.  II. — 22 


258    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

on  this  point,  ever  made  a  question  of  it.*  But  though  the 
fathers  were  agreed  as  to  the  Antichrist  being  a  person,  very- 
different  were  their  sentiments  as  to  the  jiaUire  of  his  person. 
Hippolytus,  who  traces  the  particulars  in  which  he  will  mimic 
Christ,  supposes  he  will  really  be  the  devil  himself,  who  will 
assume  the  appeara?ice  of  flesh,  but  not  be  really  so,  and  boast 
himself  to  be  born  of  a  virgin.  Others,  as  Lactantius,  Sulpi- 
tius,  and  Bede,  suppose  that  he  will  be  the  soti  of  the  devil,  and 
that  his  mother  will  be  a  harlot.  Hilary  conceives  that  the 
devil  will  actually  become  mcartiale,  as  the  Word  was  in  the 
man  Christ  Jesus.  Jerome  inclined  to  the  same  opinion,  so 
far,  at  least,  as  that  Satan  would  dwell  in  some  one  of  the  hu- 
man race,  by  whom  he  would  be  miyouy.ivo;,  or  acted  upon. 
Whilst  Chrysostom,  Theophylact,  and  Theodoret  thought  he 
would  be  a  real  man,  but  the  agent  of  Satan.  Most,  however, 
of  those  who  thought  he  would  appear  as  man,  (whether  he 
were  to  be  Satan  incarnate  or  not,)  concluded  likewise  that  he 
would  appear  as  a  Jew,  or  actually  be  a  Jew,  of  the  tribe  of 
Dan.f  Most  of  those  who  held  any  of  the  above  opinions 
considered  that  there  was  authority  for  them  in  the  scriptures, 
however  slender;  as,  for  example,  in  regard  to  his  being  Satan 
incarnate,  the  fact  was  instanced  that  Satan  entered  into  Judas 
Iscariot; — that  he  was  to  be  Satan  himself,  was  supposed  to 
be  confirmed  by  the  fact,  that  the  Lord  said  in  reference  to 
him,  "Is  not  one  of  yoii  a  devill"  and  also  by  the  expression 
KXT^  (vi^yitxvTn  Xa.TAva.  in  2  Thess.  ii.  9;  and  the  fact  that  the  tribe 
of  Dan  is  omitted  in  the  enumeration  of  the  twelve  tribes  in 
Rev.  vii.  was  a  foundation  for  concluding  him  to  be  a  Jew  of 
that  family. J 

The  circumstance,  however,  that  the  Antichrist  is  viewed 
as  a  person,  does  not  exclude  the  idea  of  a  vast  political  and 
ecclesiastical  power,  comprehending  multitudes  of  apostates: 
for  we  cannot  conceive  of  any  large  number  of  persons,  com- 
bining together  for  a  work  either  of  mischief  or  of  good,  or 
brought  by  overruling  circumstances  into  such  a  combination, 
without  having  a  head  over  them; — let  them  call  him  king, 
president,  leader,  or  what  they  will.  It  is  doubtless  by  means 
of  numerous  evil  agents,  imbibing  his  principles  and  in  reality 

*  The  very  titles  of  Antichrist,  as  read  in  the  Greeii,  would  necessarily 
convey  the  notion  of  personality. — o  ctvnp^^pia-To;,  o  atv6/>ai5roc  t«c  a/unprta.!,  o  vw,  tmc 
et7rai\it!t;,  o  'if'iu-T-'Th?,  o  Apva/uivo^,  o  avojuo;,  &C. 

+  See  Hilary,  Chrysostome,  Theophylact,  Theodoret,  Ambrose,  and  Jerome 
on  2  Thess.  ii.  Jerome  also  on  Isaiah  xvii.  and  Dan.  xi.  Lactantins  lib.  xvi. 
cap.  18.  Sulpitius,  Dialogue  ii.  Bede  in  Apoc.  vii.  and  xiii.  also  Aretas,  Pri- 
masius,  Rupert,  Elaimo,  &c. 

t  There  is  a  portion  for  Dan  in  the  division  of  the  land,  Ezekiel  xlviii.  1 
and  32;  and  he  is  the  first  tribe  enumerated  in  the  division. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    259 

constituting  his  power,  that  Antichrist  will  prevail:  the  means 
by  which  he,  in  the  first  instance,  imposes  on  some  of  these, 
and  then  they  upon  others,  is  a  distinct  consideration.  Dr. 
Hildrop,  to  whom  is  attributed  an  able  treatise  "on  Anti- 
christ" and  <'on  the  three  last  evils,"  justly  observes,  <*that 
as  Christ  has  his  7)ii/slical  as  well  as  natural  body,  so  has  Anti- 
christ his;  and  thus  Christ  and  Antichrist  may  both  be  indi- 
viduals, whilst  the  church  of  the  one  and  the  synagogue  of  the 
other  are  the  mystical  body."  Neither  does  the  notion  of  a 
personal  Antichrist  exclude  a  succession  of  men,  who  may  all, 
in  turn,  become  head  over  the  empire  of  Antichrist,  and  be 
animated  by  the  same  or  similar  principles  and  spirit. 

5.  Another  point  of  considerable  importance  in  the  inquiry 
is,  whether  all  the  passages  of  scripture  which  have  been  men- 
tioned, as  having  a  reference  to  the  Antichrist,  refer  to  one  and 
the  same  power,  or  to  (lijferefit  powers  and  individual  heads 
over  them.  Mr.  Faber  would  limit  "the  Antichrist"  to  those 
scriptures  only  which  contain  that  expression,  and  such  as 
evidently,  from  their  contexts,  treat  of  the  same  things:  and 
though  this  appears  to  be  carrying  the  principle  of  discrimina- 
tion too  far,  it  has  at  least  conducted  Mr.  FalDcr  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  the  last  great  apostacy,  which  is  to  be  headed  up  by 
Antichrist,  is  to  be  of  a  Socino-infidel  character,  which  appears 
to  be  the  truth. 

It  is  very  clear,  however,  if  the  scriptures  concerning  Anti- 
christ be  duly  weighed,  that  more  than  07ie  Ai^lichrislian  power 
is  revealed  tlierein.  The  beast  of  Rev.  xiii.  having  teii  horns, 
is  manifestly  distinct  from  the  beast  described  in  the  same 
chapter,  having  l-a-o  horns,  however  they  may  play  into  each 
other's  hands.  The  beast  of  Rev.  xvii.  on  which  the  harlot 
sits,  is  equally  distinct  from  the  harlot  who  has  her  seat  upon 
him;  for  though  they  likewise  appear  to  be  in  the  first  instance 
in  alliance,  yet  afterwards  the  power  of  the  beast  is  turned 
against  her,  and  she  is  consumed  by  him. 

In  regard  likewise  to  other  powers,  there  is  evidently  a  dif- 
ference in  the  means  by  which  they  receive  condign  punish- 
ishment;  and  if  their  eiid  be  different,  it  necessarily  follows 
that  there  must  be  some  distinction  in  the  powers  themselves. 
As  this  matter  is  of  considerable  importance  to  the  student  of 
prophecy,  the  end  of  some  of  them  shall  be  noticed. 

First,  hy  fire. — The  harlot  of  Rev.  xvii.  has  her  flesh  eaten 
and  is  burned  with  fire.  (V.  16.)  The  beast  of  Daniel  vii. 
and  the  beast  and  false  prophet  mentioned  in  Rev.  xix.  are 
likewise  both  judged  by  fire:  but  there  is  a  distinction  to  be 
noticed  even,  in  these  three.  The  harlot  is  burned  by  the  ten 
kings  who  comprise  the  beast  of  Rev.  xvii.     And  the  beast  of 


260   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Dan.  vii.  is  first  slain,  and  when  dead  his  body  is  destroyed,  and 
given  to  the  burning  flame;  whereas  the  beast  and  false  prophet 
of  Rev.  xix.  are  take/i  captive,  and  then  cast  alive  into  a  lake  of 
fire  burning  with  brimstone.* 

Secondly,  by  the  sivord. — The  remnant,  who  are  with  the 
beast  of  Rev.  xix.  are  said  to  be  slain  with  the  sword.  And 
the  end  of  Gog,  in  Ezekiel  xxxviii.  is,  that  the  Lord  calls  for 
a  sword  against  him,  throughout  all  his  mountains; — every 
man's  sword  shall  be  against  his  brother.  And  the  Lord 
pleads  against  him  with  pestilence  and  blood,  and  rains  upon 
him  AND  upon  his  bands,  and  on  the  many  people  with  him  (so 
that  Gog  himself  appears  distinct  from  his  bands  and  confede- 
rates) an  overflowing  rain  and  great  hailstones,  ^re  aiid  brim- 
stone, (verses  21 — 23)  "and  I  will  turn  thee  back,  and  thou  shalt 
fall  uj)on  the  mountains  of  Israel,  thou  and  all  thy  hands  and 
the  people  with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  to  the  ravenous 
birds  of  every  sort  and  to  the  beasts  of  the  field  to  be  devoured. 
Thou  shalt  fall  upon  the  open  field,  for  I  have  spoken  it." 
Chap,  xxxix.  2.  One  or  two  remarks  may  be  made  here. 
First,  the  sword,  in  the  latter  instance,  appears  to  be  literally 
the  sword  of  carnal  warfare;  for  each  mail's  sword  is  against 
his  brother.  Whereas  the  sword,  in  the  former  instance,  is 
that  "which  proceeds  out  of  the  mouth  of  Christ,"  which  is 
evidently  a  symbol.  Secondly,  the  destruction  of  Gog  and 
his  bands,  mentioned  in  Ezekiel,  is  apparently  different  from 
the  destruction  of  Gog  mentioned  in  Rev.  xx.  In  the  latter 
instance  fire  comes  down  from  God  out  of  heaven  and  devours 
them,  apparently  while  they  are  compassing  about  the  beloved 
city  (v.  9);  whereas  in  Ezekiel,  though  fire  and  brimstone  is 
indeed  rained  on  them,  yet  they  are  devoured  by  the  birds  of 
the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  that  upon  the  mountains 
of  Israel.  Even  if  the  latter  description  be  figurative,  it  must 
be  very  different  from  that  of  Rev.  xx. 

Thirdly,  b}^  means  which  are  manifestly  superhuman. — 
For  example,  "the  Wicked  One"  of  2  Thess.  ii.  S.  is  to  be 
consumed  with  the  spirit  of  the  Lord's  mouth,  and  destroyed 
with  the  brightness  of  his  coming."  A  consumption  or  wast- 
ing is  here  first  decreed,  similar  to  that  of  the  little  horn  of 
Dan.  vii.  26.  and  it  is  to  be  accomplished  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord's  mouth,  whatever  may  be  intended  by  that  expression: 
it  niay  be  the  same  as  "the  sword  out  of  his  mouth,"  in  Rev. 

*  The  fire  by  which  the  beast  of  Dan.  vii.  is  destroyed  is  probably  the  "fiery 
stream"  which  issued  and  came  forth  from  before  the  ancient  of  days.  The 
Uikc  of  fire,  of  Rev^.  xix.  may  be  the  same  as  this  stream:  "For  Tophet  is.  or- 
dained of  old;  yea  for  the  kinj,'  (of  Babylon)  it  is  prepared — the  breath  of  the 
Lord,  like  a  strcavi  of  brimstone,  doth  kindle  it."  Isaiah  xxx.  33. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    261 

xix.  2L*  But  the  final  destruction  of  the  wicked  one  is  to  be 
by  the  brightness  or  shining  forth  of  the  Lord  from  heaven — 
<T^i7nt]fini'}'r>f(:-rxfi\j7i:tiavrr.v-,  the  epiphany  of  his  coining.! 

Again,  the  little  horn,  or  "king  of  fierce  countenance,"  of 
Dan.  viii.  23.  is  ''broken  without  hand."  V.  25.  This  at  the 
least  intimates  that  his  destruction  will  not  be  effected  by  the 
hand  of  man.  Some  have  inferred  from  it,  that  as  "a  house 
not  made  with  hands,"  "a  stone  cut  out  of  a  mountain  without 
hands,"  and  "circumcision  without  hand,"  signify  a  spiritual 
house,  kingdom,  and  circumcision,  so  the  same  is  to  be  under- 
stood here,  and  that  it  implies  tlie  conversion  to  God  of  the  power 
spoken  of}  Some  again  have  concluded  it  to  be  equivalent 
with  Dan.  xi,  45.  "Yet  he  shall  come  to  his  end,  and  none 
shall  help  him;"  and  therefore  that  the  same  person  or  power 
is  predicated  of  in  both  places.  There  appears  however  a  mate- 
rial difference,  in  saying  that  a  man  shall  be  "broken  without 
hand;"  and  that  "no  hand  shall  help  him."  He  might  be 
broken  by  the  hand  of  man,  whilst  yet  no  hand  should  come 
to  his  relief  But  these  things  are  left  with  the  reader:  it  is  to 
the  circumstance  of  there  being  different  modes  of  punishment 
and  destruction  declared,  that  his  attention  is  principally  di- 
rected, as  being  important  toward  obtaining  correct  views 
respecting  Antichrist;  though  it  is  not  intended  at  present  to 
distinguish  between  all  these  diff"erent  powers,  and  to  assign  to 
each  prophecy  its  distinct  and  proper  person. 

II.  We  may  now  pass  to  consider  the  fulfdment  of  these 
prophecies. 

L  There  were  few  of  the  older  commentators  who  did  not 
suppose  the  little  horn  of  the  He-Goat  in  Dan.  viii.  to  have 
been  fulfilled  in  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  It  has  already  been 
shown  that  Josephus  mentions  this  opinion,  (b.  x.  c.  14.  b.  xii, 
c.  7.)  which  looks  as  if  it^were  current  among  the  Jews  pre- 
vious to  the  comingof  our  Lord.  From  Jerome's  commentary 
on  Daniel  it  may  be  seen,  that  most  of  the  Christian,  fathers 
held  the  same. 

At  a  later  period  many  of  the  fathers  began  to  entertain  the 
opinion  that  the  little  horn  of  Dan.  vii.  was  likewise  fulfilled 
in  Antiochus,  which  appears  to  have  arisen  from  the  circum- 
stance that  Porphyry,  for  the  purpose  of  denying  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  book  of  Daniel,  declared  that  the  book  had  been 

*  The  reader  would  do  well  to  compare  and  consider  in  connection  with 
this  exprosyun  Isaiah  xi.  4.  Hosea  vi.  5.  Malachi  iv.  G.  Ephes.  vi.  17.  and  Rev. 
xix.  21.  which  are  probably  intended  to  explain  each  other. 

t  It  has  already  been  fhown,  at  page  129,  that  the  word  Trapzva-tn.  is  used  only 
in  respect  to  the  personal  coming  ot'the  Lord. 

t  Mr.  Faber4:onsiders  that  this  expression  implies  the  conversion  of  the  Ma- 
hommedans. 


252   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

written  subsequent  to  the  times  of  Antiochus,  and  was  in  reality 
a  Ais/on/ of  his  exploits.  The  same  remark  he  applied  to  the 
latter  verses  of  Dan.  xi.  Jerome  contends  against  him,  and 
shows  that  in  regard  to  the  latter  chapter,  he  had  falsified  some 
facts,  and  stated  others  on  no  historic  evidence.  At  the  same 
time  both  Jerome  and  Theodoret  acknowledge  Antiochus  to 
have  been  a  type  of  the  Antichrist;  and  in  process  of  time  the 
typical  character  of  Antiochus  was  lost  sight  of,  and  many  held 
that  his  proceedings  were  the  j^roper  accomplishment  of  the 
prophecies  of  Daniel.*  Even  so  late  down  as  the  period  of 
the  Reformation  this  opinion  was  held  by  Grotius  and  Eras- 
mus. 

The  opinion  of  the  fathers  concerning  Antiochus  previous  to 
Porphyry,  and  of  many  subsequent  to  him,  who,  like  Jerome, 
held  that  Dan.  vii.  and  xi,  related  to  the  future  Antichrist,  is 
important  as  showing,  that  at  this  early  period  it  was  not  con- 
sidered that  all  the  prophecies  which  have  been  enumerated 
referred  to  one  individual;  but  that  at  least  the  main  subject  of 
Dan.  viii.  might  be  separately  applied. 

2.  Typical  fulfilments  of  parts  of  these  prophecies  have  been 
frequently  supposed  to  have  taken  place.  Calmet  states  that 
some  things  were  applied  to  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Cambyses. 
Herod,  Judas  Iscariot,  and  Simon  Magus  were  considered 
types  lay  others.  Most  of  the  emperors,  in  whose  reigns  per- 
secution arose  against  the  church,  were  either  supposed  to  be 
Antichrist  himself  or  types  of  him.  Lightfoot  states,  (Chron. 
p.  104)  that  when  Paul  wrote  to  the  Thessalonians  about  "him 
that  letteth,"  some  understood  it  of  the  Emperor  Claudius,  in 
whose  reign  St.  Paul  is  supposed  to  have  written  this.  Then 
Nero  was  thought  to  be  the  Antichrist,  long  after  whose  death 
a  notion  prevailed  that  he  would  rise  from  the  dead  before  the 
end,  and  complete  all  that  yet  remained  to  be  fulfilled  concern- 
ing Antichrist. t  In  like  manner  also  Domitian,  Marcus  Au- 
relius,  Severus,  Decius,  Gallus,  Dioclesian,  Julian,  were  all 
taken  to  be  either  Antichrist  himself  or  his  immediate  fore- 
runner;J  and  various  other  circumstances  led  different  fathers 
in  the  early  ages  to  suppose  that  his  coming  must  be  nigh  at 
hand.§ 

*  Mr.  Frere,  in  his  Three  Letters  on  Prophecy,  brings  forward  much  inter- 
esting matter  from  the  fathers  respecting  Antiochus,  and  refers  to  Aquiponia- 
nus  for  a  list  of  those  early  writers  who  imagined  Antiochus  to  be  treated  of 
in  Dan.  xi.  and  other  places.  Mr.  Frere  argues  against  the  interpretation 
which  applied  any  part  to  Antiochus  Epiphanes. 

t  See  Victoria  in  Apoc.  Ambrose  and  Chry-sostom  in  2  Thess.  ii.  Jerome 
on  Dan.  xi. 

t  See  Euseb.  Hist.  lib.  v.  c.  1;  lib.  vi.  c.  6. 

§  For  testimonials  to  this  effect,  see  Calinet's  dictionary,  under  the  article 
Anlickrist. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    263 

Besides  this  there  was  scriptural  ground  to  lead  the  early 
Christians  to  conclude,  that  the  rudiments  of  that  apostacy, 
which  was  to  lead  on  to  the  manifestation  of  the  Antichrist, 
were  already  germinatint;  and  hcginning  to  devclope  them- 
selves in  their  days.  How  plainly  St.  Paul  declares  this; 
"And  now  ye  know  what  withholdeth  tiiat  he  might  be  re- 
vealed in  his  time.  For  the  myslenj  of  iniquity  doth  already 
work:  only  he  who  now  letteth  (or  hindereth  his  revelation) 
will  let,  until  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way."  2  Thess.  ii.  6,  7. 
St.  John  goes  further,  and  says:  ''And  as  ye  have  heard  that 
Antichrist  shall  come,  even  ?iOcv  are  there  rnaiiy  Antichrists, 
whereby  we  know  that  it  is  the  last  time."  1  John  ii.  18. 
"And  this  is  that  spirit  of  Antichrist,  whereof  ye  have  heard 
that  it  should  come;  and  even  71010  already  is  it  i?i  the  icorld.'^ 
Ibid.  iv.  3.  St.  Paul  appears  also  to  describe  the  "many  Anti- 
christs" of  the  last  days,  in  2  Tim.  iii;  for  though  he  speaks 
of  them  as  to  arise  especially  in  the  last  days,  and  to  be  one  of 
the  signs  of  those  times,  yet  the  whole  context  shows,  that 
such  persons  were  already  apparent  in  the  church;  and  he 
gives  Timothy  express  directions  to  avoid  such.  V.  6.  Thus 
Cyprian  was  led  to  call  all  heretics  the  precursors  of  that  one 
and  special  Antichrist  which  is  to  come  at  the  last  end  of  the 
world.*  And  it  appears  to  have  been  with  a  view  to  St. 
John's  description  of  Antichrist  in  his  first  epistle  that  Hilary 
augured,  from  the  great  progress  of  Aria?iism  in  his  days,  that 
the  revelation  of  Antichrist  was  at  hand.     Cont.  Arian. 

3.  Nevertheless,  however  the  Antichrist  might  have  existed 
in  embryo  in  the  days  of  the  early  fathers,  and  however  they 
might  have  considered  various  individuals  to  have  represented 
him  in  type,  they  looked  forward  at-  the  same  time  for  the 
manifestation  of  a  person  who  was  yet  to  be  revealed;  who 
was  to  arrive  at  a  climax  of  wickedness  and  impiety,  such  as 
had  never  yet  been  exhibited  on  earth;  and  who  was  also  to 
deceive  and  coerce,  and  by  various  arts  draw  after  him  the 
great  multitude  of  mankind.  So  convinced  indeed  were  the 
bishops  of  Rome,  even  after  the  times  of  Constantino,  tiiat  the 
Antichrist  was  yet  to  come,  and  that  he  was  to  appear  in  the 
Roman  empire,  that  in  order  to  evade  the  awkward  inference, 
that  he  would  probably  prove  to  be  some  apostate  emperor  or 
bishop  of  Rome,  they  gradually  (as  has  been  before  stated)  fell 
into  the  conceit  that  the  millermiiim  commenced  with  Constan- 
tine;  and  then  maintained,  to  reconcile  this  figment  with  the 
non-appearance  of  the  Antichrist,  that  he  was  not  to  be  revealed 
until   the   thousand  years  were  expired; — an  opinion  which 

♦  See  him  quoted  to  this  effect  in  the  Rev.  E.  Bickerstelh's  "Practical  Guide 
to  the  Prophecies,"  p.  88,  4th  ed. 


264  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

was  not  only  contrary  to  scripture  and  to  all  previous  antiquity, 
but  which  has  been  one  great  means  of  darkening  the  counsel 
of  God,  so  far  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  page  of  prophecy.  The 
Greek  church,  at  the  same  time  that  they  held  the  coming  of 
Antichrist  to  be  future,  have  not  departed  from  the  opinion 
that  the  thousand  years  follozo  his  manifestation.  The  Romish 
church  have  universally  adopted  the  error  just  noticed,  and  do, 
to  this  day,  consider  the  coming  of  Antichrist  to  be  future: 
though  it  was  not  until  the  council  of  Florence,  in  1439,  that 
they  avowedly  and  formally  contradicted  the  expectation  of 
his  coming  previous  to  the  millennium. 

IIL  The  next  application  of  these  prophecies  which  demands 
attention,  is  that  which  refers  them,  or  any  considerable  por- 
tion of  them,  to  the  Pope — viewed  not  as  one  single  indivi- 
dual, living  only  during  the  term  of  the  natural  life  of  man, 
but  as  the  ecclesiastical  head  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  there- 
fore as  consisting  of  the  succession  of  popes  under  whom  the 
papal  system  grew  to  its  height  of  blasphemy  and  impiety, 

1.  Various  circumstances  had  been  paving  the  way  for  the 
ascendancy  of  this  great  apostacy.  The  heresies  which  dis- 
figured the  very  first  ages  of  Christianity,  and  to  which  St. 
Paul  and  St.  John  allude,  may  be  accounted  as  one  circum- 
stance, growing  and  increasing  as  they  did  with  the  spread  of 
Christianity,  and  insinuating  themselves  like  an  evil  leaven, 
more  or  less,  throughout'all  sections  of  the  visible  church.  To 
this  may  be  added  the  flagrant  corruptions,  ambition,  worldly- 
mindedness,  and  disorders,  which  grew  up  after  the  Roman 
empire  became  nominally  Christian.  Next  may  be  instanced 
the  abominable  superstitions  which  pervaded  almost  the  whole 
mass  of  the  church,  insomuch  that  Gibbon  declares  "the  Chris- 
tians of  the  seventh  century  had  insensibly  relapsed  into  a 
semblance  of  paganism."  Vol.  ix.  p.  261.  Lastly  may  be 
noticed  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman  empire  by  the  irruption 
of  the  barbarian  nations,  and  the  division  of  the  territory  into 
separate  states  and  kingdoms  by  the  conquerors;  whereby  it 
came  to  pass,  that  space  was  given  for  the  aggrandisement  of 
the  Roman  pontitTs  by  the  possession  of  temporal  dominion. 

2.  Various  instances  have  been  adduced,  by  protestant  in- 
terpreters of  j)rophecy,  of  individuals  who,  during  the  early 
periods  of  the  rise  and  increase  of  the  papal  tyranny  and  super- 
stition, denounced  or  deplored  the  antichristian  or  apostate 
spirit  which  prevailed.  The  declaration  of  Gregory  the 
Great,  so  early  as  the  sixth  century,  has  been  alleged  for  this 
))oint;  viz.  "that  whosoever  styled  hiniself  vtihersal  bishop 
proved  himself  to  be  the  fore-rwwer  of  Antichrist."  Opera, 
lib.  vi.  Ep.  30.     Arnulph,  bishop  of  Orleans,  is  said  to  have 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  355 

expressed  himself  as  follows  concerning  the  pope,  in  a  council 
held  at  Rheims  in  the  tenth  century:  "What  think  ye,  reve- 
rend fathers,  of  tills  man,  elevated  on  a  lofty  throne,  and  glit- 
tering in  gold  and  purple?  Whom  do  ye  account  him  to  be? 
Surely,  if  destitute  of  charity,  and  elated  with  the  pride  of 
science  alone,  he  is  Antichrist,  sitting  in  the  temple  of  God, 
and  shewing  himself  that  he  is  God."  Baronius  in  Annales 
992.  Clarke  in  his  "Prophetic  Records"  gives  the  following 
in  inverted  commas;  but  his  work  is  throughout  defective  from 
the  want  of  references. — "There  were  numbers  of  persons  in 
the  communion  of  Rome,  who  declared  plainly,  and  icitiwut 
reserve,  that  the  pope  was  Antichrist.  In  the  proceedings  of 
the  council  of  Rheims  held  in  991  it  appears  that  Gonthier 
bishop  of  Cologne  and  Tergand  archbishop  of  Treves  were 
among  this  number.  The  clergy  of  Liege,  according  to  Aven- 
tin,  (lib.  iv.)  and  Frederick  I.  called  Barbarossa,  in  the  twelfth 
century,  as  well  as  Frederick  II.  in  the  thirteenth  century,  with 
Everard  bishop  of  Saltzburg,  Darsilius  of  Padua,  Petrarch,  and 
several  others,  have  all  been  pointed  out  as  having  designated 
the  bishop  of  Rome  as  the  real  Antichrist,  baptizing  him,  as  it 
were,  with  this  name,  and  applying  to  him  all  the  characters 
in  the  Apocalypse  with  a  degree  of  force  and  accuracy  not  to 
be  exceeded."  Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairvaux  in  the  twelfth 
century,  is  likewise  instanced  as  having  then  declared  that  the 
beast  of  the  Apocalypse  occupied  the  chair  of  St.  Peter; 
(Epist.  125)  and  Joachim  abbot  of  Calabria  advanced  similar 
statements  about  the  same  period.* 

Some  of  the  preceding  testimonies  have  been  called  in 
question  by  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitland  of  Gloster;  and  there  is 
doubtless  a  character  of  exaggeration  in  the  use  that  has  been 
made  of  them.t  Genebrand  however  and  Baronius,  Roman 
Catholic  writers,  call  the4;enth  century  an  iron,  a  leaden,  and  an 
unhappy  age:  "Chiefly  unhappy  (says  the  latter)  in  that  for 
almost  150  years  the  popes  totally  degenerated  from  the  virtue 
of  their  ancestors,  being  more  like  npostates  than  apostles.'' 
Proph.  Records,  p.  32.  Of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centu- 
ries, Vitringa,  who  is  a  sober  and  careful  witness,  declares,  that 
the  language  of  pious  men  in  general  was,  that  the  pope  was 
Antichrist  and  the  church  of  Rome  Babylon.  In  Apoc.  p.  749. 
The  Rev.  H.  Girdlestone,  in  his  "Analytical  Comment  on  the 

♦  Roe:er  de  Hovendon  Annales.  Edit.  Franc.  ICOl.  p.  681.  Cave.  H.  L.  vol. 
ii.  p.  278. 

t  It  is  easy  for  a  man,  when  searching  for  such  testimony,  and  finding  only 
five  or  six  instances,  to  say  "that  there  were  nmnbcrs  of  persons— among  whom 
were  these  five  or  six."  Or  first  to  instance  these  six  and  then  add,  "anrf  several 
others.^''  But  wne  may  reasonably  question  if  the  others  would  not  have  been 
mentioned  if  known. 


266    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

■first  part  of  the  Revelation,"  asserts,  "that  some  spiritual  men 
of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  the  most  eminent  of 
whom  were  Peter  John  Olive  and  Hubert  de  Casali,  denounced 
the  gross  body  of  the  church  of  Rome  as  the  Babylon  of  the 
Apocalypse.  And  it  is  notorious  that  in  the  times  of  the  Re- 
formation the  opinion  that  the  pope  was  Antichrist  became 
general  and  decided  among  protestants.  Mr.  Cuninghame 
quotes  the  testimony  of  Cranmer  when  about  to  be  committed 
to  the  flames:  "As  for  the  Pope,  I  refuse  him  as  Christ's  ene- 
my and  Antichrist,  with  all  his  false  doctrine."  Ridley  also, 
in  his  farewell  letter  written  just  before  he  suffered  niartyrdom, 
declared:  "The  see  of  Rome  is  the  seat  of  Satan,  and  the  bishop 
of  the  same,  that  maintaineth  the  abominations  thereof,  is  Anti- 
christ himself  indeed.  And  for  the  same  cause  this  see  at  this 
day  is  the  same  which  St.  John  called  in  his  Revelation,  Ba- 
bylon, &c. "  Luther,  Melancthon,  Zuinglius,  Calvin,  and  Knox, 
have  all  declared  the  same;*  and  similar  testimonies  are  in- 
stanced by  Mr.  Cuninghame  from  Latimer  and  Hooper;  and 
by  Mr.  Bickersteth  from  numerous  writers. 

3.  To  go  into  all  the  circumstances  in  the  history  of  the 
papacy,  which  have  been  supposed  by  interpreters  to  corres- 
pond with  the  scripture  delineations  of  Antichrist,  would  re- 
quire a  much  larger  volume  than  the  one  now  before  the  reader; 
a  slight  sketch  however  of  some  of  its  more  prominent  fea- 
tures will  be  necessary. 

(1.)  There  are  some  exter/ial  features  which  are  remarkable. 
First,  Dan.  vii.  leads  us  to  expect  that  before  the  little  Anti- 
christian  horn  three  of  the  ten  horns,  or  kingdoms,  of  the 
beast  should  be  plucked  up  or  subdued.  And  history  testifies, 
that  when  the  western  Roman  empire  was  divided  into  ten 
kingdoms,!  the  pope  became  possessed  of  three  of  them,  viz. 
Ravenna,  Lombardy,  and  Rome,  which  were  plucked  up  before 
him  and  for  him  by  the  French  monarch.  And  in  token  of 
this  circumstance  the  pope  now  wears  three  crowns  upon  his 
mitre;  and  in  farther  commemoration  of  it  a  piece  of  mosaic 
work  was  made  for  his  palace  in  which  St.  Peter  is  repre- 
sented with  three  keys  in  his  lap,  signifying  that  they  are  the 
three  keys  of  this  part  of  his  patrimony.  Newton  on  Dan.  p. 
86— SS. 

Another  feature  is,  that  in  Rev.  xvii.  the  ten  horned  beast 
is  represented  as  of  a  scarlet  colour,  and  the  woman  who  is 
seated  upon  it  is  "arrayed  in  purple  and  scarlet  colour,  and 
decked  with  gold  and  precious  stones  and  pearls."  Verse  3, 
4.     The  pontifical  cope,  worn  on  the  eve  of  St.  Peter,  is  made 

*  "Strictures  on  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitland's  four  pamphlets." 
t  Of  the  ten  kingdoms  I  shall  treat  more  particularly  presently. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    0(57 

of  fine  red  or  scarlet  stuff.  The  cardinals  are  clothed  in  scar- 
let. Eight  men  in  long  scarlet  robes  bear  the  "Sedia  Gcstoria',^' 
and  the  palfrey  whereon  the  pope  rides  is  covered  with  scarlet 
cloth.  There  is  a  profusion  of  gold  and  jewellery  and  costly 
stones  likewise  displayed:  the  cope  already  alluded  to  is  fastened 
with  a  hook  or  buckle  of  gold,  called  pectoral,  enriched  with 
precious  stones,  which  alone  is  estimated  at  more  than  50,000 
crowns. 

A  farther  illustration  of  the  gold  and  precious  stones  exhi- 
bited on  him  will  lead  us  to  anotiier  singular  coincidence.  It 
is  said  in  Rev.  xiii.  that  the  dragoti  gave  to  this  beast  his  power 
and  his  seat  and  great  authority;  and  the  pope  has  actually 
adopted  the  dragon  as  part  of  his  armorial  bearings.  For  pope 
Gregory  removed  the  cross  from  the  top  of  the  papal  tiara  or 
triple  crown,  made  by  pope  Julius  II.  and  replaced  it  by  a 
brilliant  emerald  supported  by  two  golden  dragons,  and  caused 
his  own  arms  to  be  quartered  therewith,  and  then  his  name  and 
title  in  diamonds;*  so  that  the  dragon  became  at  once  his  crest 
and  his  supporters;  thus  significantly,  though  unconsciously 
on  his  part,  seemed  to  point  out,  on  whose  authority  he  leaned 
and  gloried. 

Those  who  see  in  the  /zco-horned  beast  of  Rev.  xiii.  an  em- 
blem of  the  secular  and  spiritual,  or  ecclesiastical,  power  of  the 
pope,  point  to  the  farther  circumstance  of  the  pope  causing  to 
be  carried  before  him  upon  state  occasions  livo  swords  as  the 
mark  of  his  two-fold  sovereignty  and  dominion.  Habershon, 
p.  315.  And  it  is  farther  remarkable,  that  as  the  two  horns 
of  this  beast  are  "like  a  lamb,"  whilst  yet  "he  spake  as  a  dra- 
gon;" so,  whilst  the  popes  have  inounted  the  dragon  as  their 
crest,  they  have  also  assumed  as  the  device  upon  their  banner 
a  lamb  passanl. 

I  am  aware  that  some  c^f  these  things  are  merely  symbols  or 
emblems  in  the  word  of  prophecy,  and  are  therefore  significant 
oi other  things;  but  so  are  they  significant  emblems  also  in  the 
instance  of  the  popes,  and  apparently  shadow  forth  the  very 
same  circumstances  and  cliaracteristics  which  are  designed  in 
scripture;  so  that  mystically  and  literally  there  is  a  resem- 
blance. And  it  is  diflicult  to  explain  the  singular  coincidence 
of  these  circumstantials  in  the  graphical  delineations  of  Anti- 
christ with  the  outward  aspect  and  insignia  of  the  popes,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  bear  in  remembrance  the  overruling  pro- 
vidence of  God  even  in  the  minutest  matters,  without  coming 
to  the  conclusion,  either  that  he  permitted  this  coincidence  for 

*  See  Rabett  "on  the  Number  of  the  Beasf,"  who  informs  us,  (p.  202,  203,) 
that  there  is  aiv  engraving  of  this  crest  in  the  Voyages  of  the  Sieur  A.  de  la 
Motraye,  vol.  i.  chap.  ii.  p.  32,  plate  iv. 


268  ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

the  purpose  o^ delud'mg  his  church;  or,  which  is  most  agreeable 
to  reason  and  piety,  that  he  designed  by  these  outward  marks 
that  his  church  should  be  enabled  to  identify  the  papacy,  as 
the  little  horn,  the  false  prophet,  and  the  harlot  of  the  scrip- 
tures. Had  the  Romish  churcli  but  kept  the  word  of  God 
continually  before  her,  a  recollection  that  these  things  are  de- 
scribed therein  would  have  led  her,  upon  every  principle  of 
good  taste  and  of  discretion,  to  have  avoided  them,  that  there 
might  at  least  be  no  external  semblance  betwixt  herself  and  the 
Antichrist;  but  having  shut  up  the  scriptures,  and  especially 
the  Apocalypse,  she  has  been  led  in  her  pride  and  infatuation 
to  decorate  herself  with  his  very  badges  and  livery,  blindly 
mistaking  them  for  the  garments  of  Messiah. 

(2.)  Passing,  however,  now  to  the  actings  and  spiritual 
characteristics  of  Antichrist,  a  few  circumstances  must  be 
noticed.  And  the  first  which  presents  itself  is  the  blasphemy 
and  pride  described  of  him.  This  characteristic  indeed  belongs, 
more  or  less,  to  all  the  different  persons  described;  so  that  it 
is  no  wonder  if  commentators  have  been  led  to  infer,  that  they 
are  one  and  the  same;  and  it  may  well  be  questioned  whether 
each  antichristian  power  that  has  appeared  or  shall  appear  has 
not  exhibited  a  primary  or  a  typical  fulfilment  of  every  pro- 
phecy relating  to  Antichrist. 

Dan.  vii.  has  "I  beheld  then  because  of  the  voice  oi  the  great 
words  zvhich  the  horn  spake;" — the  horn  that  had  eyes  and  a 
mouth  that  spake  verij  great  things; — "whose  look  was  more 
stout  than  his  fellows;" — "he  shall  speak  great  words  agai7ist  the 
Most  High."     V.  11,  20,25. 

Rev.  xiii.  has — "There  was  given  unto  him  a  mouth  speak- 
ing great  things  and  blasphemies;" — "and  he  opened  his  mouth  in 
blasphemy  against  God,  to  blaspheme  his  name,  and  his  taber- 
nacle, and  them  that  dwell  in  heaven."     V.  5,  6. 

Dan.  xi.  36,  has — "He  shall  exalt  himself  and  magtiify  him- 
self against  every  god,  and  shall  speak  marvellous  things  against 
the  God  of  gods." 

Dan.  viii.  has — "He  magnified  hi7nsclf  even  to  the  Prince  of 
the  host;" — "He  shall  magnify  himself  in  his  heart," — "and 
shall  stand  tip  against  the  Prince  of  pri?ices."     V.  11,  25. 

And  2  Thcss.  ii.  4.  has — "Who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself 
above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped:  so  that  he, 
as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  shewing  himself  that  he  is 
God." 

It  may  be  observed  in  the  above  five  passages,  that  the 
speaking  blasphemy  is  only  expressed  in  the  first  three  of 
them,  though  it  is  implied  in  the  two  last.  Whilst  the  self- 
exaltation  and  inflation  of  heart  are  described  in  the  three  last. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    0(59 

and  only  to  be  inferred  in  the  two  first.  And  there  is  also  a 
climax  observable  in  his  exaltation:  for  he  magnifies  himself 
against  the  God  of  gods, — and  even  to  the  Prince  of  the  host, 
and  he  opposes  and  exalts  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God, 
and  exhibits  himself  that  he  is  God.* 

A  few  instances  must  suffice  of  the  pope's  magiiifijitig  him- 
self  in  the  manner  above  stated,  liut  first  it  may  be  necessary 
to  observe  that  some,  in  reference  to  2  Thess.  ii.  4.  distinguish 
between  those  "who  are  called  God,"  or  have  the  title  of  God, 
and  him  who  is  God  by  nature.!  For  in  Psalm  Ixxxii.  6,  the 
Lord  doth  himself  give  to  the  riders  of  the  people  the  title  of 
gods,  which  is  confirmed  by  our  Lord  in  John  x.  34,  35 — "Is 
it  not  written  in  your  law,  I  said,  Ye  are  gods?  If  he  called 
them  gods,  unto  whom  the  word  of  God  came,  and  the  scrip- 
ture cannot  be  broken,  &c,"  1  Cor.  viii.  5.  seems  to  allude 
to  the  same  thing,  when  it  speaks  of  gods  on  earth;  and  it  ap- 
pears evident  that  assumption  of  power  and  authority  over  all 
kings  and  judges  of  the  earth  must  be  included  in  the  term  "all 
that  is  called  God." 

Pope  Innocent  III.  then,  in  whose  reign  the  inquisition  was 
founded,  writes:  "Christ  hath  set  one  man  over  the  world; 
him  whom  he  hath  appointed  his  vicar  on  earth:  and  as  to 
Christ  is  bent  every  knee  in  heaven,  in  earth,  and  under  the 
earth,  so  shall  obedience  and  service  be  paid  to  his  vicar  by 
all,  that  there  may  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd."  And 
Gregory  VII.  in  his  epistle  says: — The  Roman  pontiff  by 
right  is  imixersal.  In  him  alorie  is  the  right  of  making  laws. 
Let  all  kings  kiss  the  feet  of  the  pope.     His  name  alone  shall 

*  Some  have  inferred,  that  because  he  speakx  against  God,  and  magTiifie? 
himself  against  him,  therefore  the  Pope  cannot  be  intended;  forasmuch  as  he 
has  ever  acknowledged  God  and  professed  to  act  only  in  his  name.  But  this 
arises  from  a  misapprehension  in  some  particuiSrs  of  the  character  of  Anti- 
christ, and  also  of  the  nature  of  blasphemy.  "For  it  was  not  an  enemy  that 
reproached  me;  then  I  could  have  borne  it:  "neither  was  it  he  that  hated  me,  that 
did  magnify  himself  against  mc;  then  I  ^vou]d  have  hid  myself  from  him." 
No,  it  is  a  professed  friend,  whose  horn  of  power  assumes  the  character  of  a 
lamb,  being  in  fact  exercised  in  the  name  of  the  Lamb;  and  though  war  is  in 
his  heart  and  he  speaks  like  a  dragon,  and  his  words  are  in  reality  "drawn 
swords,"  yet  are  they  "smoother  than  butter"  and  ".softer  than  oil,"  having  a 
plausible  semblance  of  piety  and  regard  for  the  interests  of  God.  See  Psalm 
Iv.  13,  21,  which  throughout  relates"  apparently  to  the  Antichrist;  and  its  pri- 
mary fulfilment  in  Judas  Iscariot  shows,  as  already  has  been  noticed,  that  what 
is  stated  is  perfectly  consistent  with  tiie  Antichrist  not  being  an  opc?i  enemy. 
And  Christ  was  accused  of  hlasphcmij  by  the  Jews,  not  because  he  denied  the 
Father.but  because  he  was  supposed  by  them  to  have  unwarrantably  magnified 
iiimself  to  an  equality  with  God.  Comp.  John  v.  18;  and  x.  33.  Arid  the  Jews 
are  also  accused  of  having  blasphemed  the  name  of  God,  because  their  conduct, 
as  professors  of  his  religion,  was  calculated  to  bring  that  name  into  reproach. 
Rom.  ii.  2^1. 

t  See,  for  example,  Mr.  Cuninghame  in  answer  to  Mr,  Burgh,  page  18  of 
Appendix. 

VOL,  II. — 23 


270   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

be  heard  in  all  the  churches:  it  is  the  only  name  in  the  world. 
It  is  his  right  to  depose  kings.  His  sentence  is  not  to  be  re- 
pealed by  any  one:  it  is  to  be  repealed  by  himself  alone.  He 
is  to  he  Judged  by  7io7ie."* 

''The  pope,  (says  Mr.  Keith,)  assumed  a  prerogative  and 
exercised  a  power,  such  as  no  race  of  kings  ever  claimed;  and, 
exall'wg  himself  above  a//,  maintained  an  unparalleled  ascendency, 
and  prospered  during  a  period  which  scarcely  any  dynasty  on 
earth  ever  equalled.'^ — "In  the  ninth  century  pope  Nicholas 
maintained  that  he  was  not  liable  to  the  judgment  of  any  man. 
Pope  John  claimed  the  obedience  of  princes  as  his  due,  and 
threatened  them  with  excommunication.  In  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury Leo  IX.  sanctioned  the  opinion,  that  it  is  very  unbe- 
coming that  those  should  be  subject  to  an  earthly  empire,  whom 
the  divine  majesty  had  set  over  an  heavenly.  He  defended 
alike  the  spiritual  authority  and  the  temporal 'sovereignty  of 
the  popes.  Gregory  VII.  thundered  out  a  terrible  excommu- 
nication against  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  in  which  he  anathe- 
matized him  and  all  his  adherents,  declared  him  to  have  for- 
feited the  kingdoms  of  Germany  and  Italy,  together  with  all 
regal  dignity;  forbade  all  Christians  to  obey  him;  bestowed 
the  kingdom  of  Germany  on  Radulphus,  elected  by  the  princes 
of  Germany;  and  finally  exhorted  all  of  them  to  take  up  arms 
against  Henry,  and  to  divest  him  of  his  dominions."  Signs  of 
the  Times,  p.  103. 

Various  instances  are  well  known  of  the  unparalleled  inso- 
lence of  the  popes  towards  kings  and  judges  of  the  earth. 
Our  own  king  John  was  forced  to  resign  his  crown  into  his 
hands,  and  to  do  homage  to  him,  and  to  receive  it  as  a  gift 
from  the  holy  see;  and  the  pope's  legate,  who  retained  pos- 
session of  it  for  five  days,  trampled  under  his  feet  the  money 
which,  in  token  of  his  .vassalage,  was  given  him  by  the  king. 
The  emperor  Henry  IV.  was  made  to  wait  three  days  at  the 
gates  of  the  fortress  of  Canusium,  bareheaded  and  barefooted, 
witii  nothing  but  a  coarse  cloth  over  him,  before  Ilildebrand 
(Gregory  VII.)  would  grant  him  absolution.  At  the  com- 
mand of  another  pope,  the  English  Henry  II.  walked  bare- 
footed to  do  penance  at  the  tomb  of  Becket.  Pope  Celestin 
dashed  with  his  foot  the  crown  from  the  head  of  Henry  VI; 
and  Pope  Alexander  is  said  to  have  trod  on  the  neck  of  the 
emperor  Frederick  I:  though  this  latter  circumstance  is  not  so 
well  authenticated.  Keith,  p.  110.  The  bull  of  the  pope,  in 
which  tlie  deposition  of  Queen  Elizabeth  was  pronounced,  was 
couched  in  these  terms:  "Him  alo?ie  (the  pope)  hath  God  con- 

*  See  these  two  instances  quoted  bv  Mr.  Habershon,  in  his  "Dissertation," 
&c.  p.  317. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  271 

stituted  prince  over  all  nations  and  over  all  kingdoms,  to  root 
out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy,  and  to  throw  down,  to 
build,  and  to  plant,  &c."     Camd,  Hist.  1570. 

But  farther  than  this,  "he  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself 
above  all  that  is  called  God;"  which  word  all  must  include 
the  proper  deity  of  the  triune  Jehovah  himself,  who  alone  is 
of  right  "called  (iod."  And  this  is  farther  evitlent  from  its 
being  declared  next,  "that  he  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of 
God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God."  2  Thess.  ii.  4.  Surely 
he  e.xalts  himself  above  the  authority  of  God,  who  supersedes 
his  word,  and  imposes  his  own  will  in  its  stead, — who  takes 
away  one  of  the  commandments  from  the  decalogue,  and  in- 
sists upon  the  worship  of  the  images  of  saints; — who  shuts  up 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  by  which  alone  God's  word  and  will  can 
be  known  and  followed; — who  withholds  the  cup  from  the 
laity,  which  Jesus  desired  "all"  to  drink  of;* — who  forbids 
marriage  to  the  priesthood,  which  God  hath  declared  to  be 
honourable  in  all:f  who  commands  to  abstain  from  meats, 
which  God  hatli  created  to  be  received  witli  thanksgiving  of 
them  which  believe  and  know  the  truth.  In  which  two  latter 
circumstances  he  is  a  striking  exemplification  of  that  apostate 
spirit  mentioned  in  1  Tim.  iv.  1 — 3,  and  which  likewise  is 
applied  to  Antichrist. 

Various  instances  are  also  adduced  by  writers  on  this  sub- 
ject of  the  blasphemous  flattery  and  adulation  which  has  been 
addressed  to  the  popes,  and  which  flatteries  have  been  ap- 
proved, encouraged,  and  rewarded  in  the  writers  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  and  the  style  of  which  is  even  adopted  in  the  lan- 
guage of  public  decretals  and  acts  of  council.  The  Rev.  R. 
Rabett  has  a  pithy  collection  of  them  in  his  work  upon  the 
number  of  the  Beast,  as — '<The  countenance  of  thy  Divine  Ma- 
jesty;"— "All  power  is  delivered  by  tlie  Lord  to  thee  alone, 
both  in  heave?)  and  upon  the  earth;" — "Another  God  upon 
earth;" — '<0  Pope,  thou  art  not  God  nor  man — but  betwixt 
them  both  thou  art."J     Mr.  Keith  has  a  similar  collection, 

♦  One  of  the  most  disgusting  instances  of  the  pride  of  the  Popes  is  men- 
tioned by  Mr.  Edward  Wright,  in  the  narrative  of  his  travels  in  Italy,  and  of 
which  he  was  an  eye-witness;  viz.  that  at  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation  of 
the  Pope,  he  sucks  the  sacramental  wine  Ikrov.oh  a  lube,  not  deigning  to  touch 
with  his  lips  the  chalice  uiil  of  which  the  other  priests  and  bishops  have  to 
drink.     Vol.  i.  p.  191.     London,  1730. 

+  Some  commentators  consider  the  statement  in  Dan.  xi.  37.  concerning  the 
wilful  king,  that  he  shall  not  regard  the  desire  of  women,  to  be  the  same  as  that 
of  Paul  in  1  Tim.  iv.  3,  that  he  ?\\o\\\A  forbid  to  marry. 

t  Mr.  Rabett  mentions  also  having  himself  seen"  a  beautifully  enamelled 
tablet,  apparently  executed  when  Popery  was  in  its  zenith,  which  represented 
a  Trinity  of  persons — consisting  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  likeness  of  a  dove; 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  likeness  of  a  man;  and  the  Pope  with  his  triple 
crown  and  the  keys  of  St.  Peter;  and  then  the  following  words  in  Latin  under- 


272   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

from  which  the  following  may  be  added:  "Our  Lord  God  the 
Pope;"  (which  is  the  common  style  of  "his  holiness"  in 
Italy;) — "the  power  of  the  pope  is  greater  than  all  created 
power,  and  extends  to  things  celestial,  terrestrial  and  infernal;" 
— "the  pope  doth  whatsoever  he  listeth,  even  things  unlawful, 
and  is  more  iha?i  God!"*  And  in  regard  to  the  sitting  as  God 
in  the  temple  of  God,  the  same  ]Mr.  Wright,  already  quoted, 
confirms  as  an  eye-witness,  what  has  been  often  before  declared 
by  other  writers,  that  at  the  inauguration  of  a  new  pope,  at 
which  he  was  pi-esent,  the  pope  sate  071  the  great  altar,  and  re- 
ceived the  adoration  of  the  cardinals,  who  kissed  hie  foot,  hand, 
and  cheek."t 

(3.)  The  next  conspicuous  feature  in  the  Antichrist  is  that 
of  the  jjerseculioii  of  the  saints.  "The  same  horn  made  war 
with  the  saints  and  prevailed  against  them."  Dan.  vii.  21. 
"And  it  was  given  unto  him  to  make  war  with  the  saints  and 
to  overcome  them."  Rev.  xiii.  7.  "I  saw  the  woman  drunken 
with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the  Lamb 
and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus."  On  this  head 
the  short  summary  of  Mr.  Scott  of  the  cruelties  of  the  papacy, 
brought  forward  by  Mr.  Bickcrstcth  in  his  recently  published 
"Remarks  on  the  progress  of  Popery,"  is  sufficiently  to  the 
point,  without  enlarging  further.  "No  computation  can  reach 
the  numbers  who  have  been  put  to  death  in  different  ways  on 
account  of  their  maintaining  the  profession  of  the  gospel  and 
opposing  the  corruptions  of  the  church  of  Rome.  A  million 
of  poor  Waldenses  perished  in  France.  Nine  hundred  thou- 
sand orthodox  Christians  were  slain  in  less  than  thirty  years 
after  the  institution  of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits.  The  Duke  of 
Alva  boasted  of  having  put  thirty-six  thousand  to  death  in  the 

neath,  "Holy  Trinity,  One  Gorf,  whether  we  invoke  Thee,  whether  we  adore 
Thee,  we  pi'aise  Thee;  we  glorify  Thee,  O  Blessed  Trinity,  under  the  name 
of  the  One  God/'     P.  288. 

*  Mr.  Rabett  refers,  for  authorities  to  the  titles  he  cites,  to  Orat.  Puccii.  in 
Sess. !).  Concil.  Lateram.  sub  Leo  X.  ap.  Sur.  ipso  limine;— Orat.  Marcell.  in 
4  Sess.  Concil.  Lateram.  sub  Jul.  II.  ap.  sur. — Clement.  Prcem.  in  Gloss,  prop, 
fin.  The  reader  will  find  most  of  these  likewise  in  Bishop  Newton's  work  on 
the  Prophecies;  who  refers  to  Bishop  Jewell's  Apology,  Downham's  Trea- 
tise cle  Anllc/irislo,  Poole's  English  Annotations,  and  Barrow's  Treatise  of  the 
Pope's  Supremacy. 

t  This  account  is  corroborated  by  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton,  who  observes 
that  Caligula  was  the  first  sovereign  of  Pagan  Rome  who  offered  his  foot  to  be 
ki.5sed  by  any;  which  raised  a  general  indignation  in  the  empire. 

Mr.  Burgh  objects,  in  regard  to  the  phrase  "sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God," 
that  to  suit  the  views  of  Mr.  Cuninghame  and  other  similar  interpreters,  it  is 
degraded  into  a  Jiguralive  sitting,  inasmuch  as  the  Pope  does  not  alvays  sit 
there.  Mr.  Cuninghame  in  reply  argues,  that  it  is  not  more  figurative  than 
the  phrase,  "William  IV.  now  sits  on  the  throne  of  Britain,"  whereas  at  the 
time  he  was  writing  it  was  not  literally  so;  and  never  indeed  but  on  particular 
occasions.    P.  31,  Answer  to  Burgh,  Appendix. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    373 

Netherlands  by  the  hands  of  the  common  executioner  during 
the  space  of  a  few  years.  The  inquisition  destroyed  by  various 
tortures  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  witliin  thirty  years. 
These  are  a  few  specimens,  and  but  a  /etc,  of  those  which  his- 
tory has  recorded;  but  the  total  amount  will  never  be  known 
till  the  earth  sliall  disclose  her  blood  and  no  more  cover  her 
slain,"  p.  2G.  So  the  learned  Dr.  John  Owen  in  his  "Ser- 
mons," sets  down  in  the  same  summary  manner  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  papacy,  thus  concluding:  "What  I  pray  you  hath 
been  their  main  business  for  seven  hundred  years  and  upwards, 
even  almost  ever  since  the  IMan  of  Sin  was  enthroned?  How 
have  they  earned  the  titles  'eldest  son  of  the  church,' — 'catho- 
lic and  most  christian  king?'  hatli  it  not  been  bv  'the  blood  of 
the  saints?'  "     P.  328. 

(4.)  One  point  more  shall  suffice,  which  is  added  chiefly 
on  account  of  the  emphasis  that  has  been  laid  on  it  by  others; 
for  it  belongs  not  to  the  description  of  the  little  horn,  neither 
to  that  of  the  beast  of  the  Apocalypse.  It  is,  that  in  his  estate 
the  wilful  king  shall  honour  the  god  of  forces.  Dan.  xi.  3S. 
The  original  word  Mahuzzim,  used  in  this  place  for  the  god  of 
forces,  is  translated  in  the  margin  of  our  bibles  gods  protectors; 
and  the  word  Mahuzzim  itself  is  retained  in  the  Vulgate,  and 
some  other  versions.  The  word  Mahoz,  in  the  singular,  is 
translated  as  a  defender,  deliverer,  strength,  rock  of  defence,  &c.  in 
the  following  places:  Psalm  xxi.  2,  5;  xxvii.  1;  xxviii.  8; 
xxxvii.  39.  Commentators  give  different  explanations  of  this 
word,  and  of  course  make  different  applications  of  it:  that 
which  refers  it  to  i\\e  palroti  saints  among  the  Roman  Catholics 
seems  best  to  agree  with  the  meaning  of  the  term  as  translated 
in  the  various  passages  of  Scripture  just  referred  to.  There 
is  scarcely  a  city,  town  or  village  in  the  Romish  dominions, 
which  is  not  placed  undei»the  special  pro^ec/ion  of  some  canon- 
ized saint;  and  these  with  their  relics  vvere  honoured  with  the 
titles  of  towers,  7valls,  bulwarks,  fortresses,  in  other  words,  J\la- 
huzzim;  and  were  and  are  prayed  to  and  adored  even  to  this 
day,  gcnvfexions  being  made  before  their  pictures  and  images, 
and  luminaries  and  incense  being  offered  before  them.* 

The  "doctrines  of  devils,"  (or  doclrines  concerning  demons) 
mentioned  in  1  Tim.  iv.  1,  is  interpreted  by  ]\Iede  and  others 
to  have  a  like  signification:  demons  being  among  the  pagans 
the  spirits  of  departed  heroes  supposed  to  be  deified,  and  there- 
fore answering  to  the  spirits  of  departed  saints  among  the 
papists.  Mr.  Keith  and  others  have  largely  shown  that  these 
have  been  "honoured  with  gold  and  silver,  and  with  precious 

*  See  for  ample  7)rcofs  of  this,  Mcdch  Works,  page  673,  and  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton's Observations  on  Daniel,  chap.  xiv. 
23* 


274   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

stones  and  pleasant  things;"  (Dan.  xi.  38.)  The  riches  of  the 
shrine  of  Thomas  a  Becket  were  such,  that  the  gold  alone,  when 
it  was  broken  down,  filled  two  large  chests  which  eight  strong 
men  could  scarcely  carry  out  of  the  church.  And  the  throng 
of  strangers  who  brought  offerings  to  the  altar  of  St.  Paul  at 
Rome  was  so  great,  that  Gibbon  relates,  that  two  priests  stood 
night  and  day  with  rakes  in  their  hands  to  collect  without 
counting  the  heaps  of  gold  and  silver  poured  upon  it.*  And 
to  this  day  whatsoever  is  costly  and  precious  and  pleasant,  from 
jewels  of  great  price  to  the  embroidered  petticoat,  are  devoted 
to  decorate  the  shrines  or  images  of  departed  sainis.  Surely 
here  is  "that  great  city  that  was  clothed  in  fine  linen  and  pur- 
ple and  scarlet,  and  decked  with  gold  and  precious  stones." 
Rev.  xviii. 

(4.)  "What  a  mystery,!  (says  Mr.  Bickersteth)  there  is  in 
Popery!  Look  at  some  of  its  pretensions  and  realities.  It 
boasts  of  purity,  sanctity,  universality,  and  apostolicity,  and 
yet  has  practised  the  most  horrible  wickedness  that  this  world 
has  ever  seen.  0  mystery  of  mysteries!  The  shepherd  is 
the  wolf  devouring  the  flock.  The  servant  of  Jesus  Christ, 
claiming  to  be  his  only  true  follower,  sets  aside  his  Master's 
laws,  tramples  upon  his  word,  and  exalts  his  own  inventions 
above  them.  The  follower  of  that  lowly  One,  who  washed 
his  disciples'  feet,  requij-es  emperors  and  kings  to  kiss  his  feet 
and  do  him  homage.  He  styles  himself  servant  of  servants, 
and  yet  claims  a  direct,  supreme,  spiritual  power;  and  thereby, 
indirectly,  (as  Bellarmine  says,)  a  certain,  and  that  a  supreme, 
power  in  temporal  things.  In  profession  he  owns  God  and 
Jesus  Christ,  humility  and  justice,  truth  and  love;  and  yet, 
under  this  pretence,  has  masked  the  very  utmost  pride,  injus- 
tice, falsehood,  wickedness  and  cruelty, — dispensing  with  the 
laws  of  God,  murdering  men,  women,  and  children,  who  have 
followed  their  conscience  and  the  word  of  God  rather  than  his 
blasphemous  decrees!  0  horrible  scheme  of  satanic  religion! 
What  mysteries  it  comprehends!  To  forbid  meats  as  an  act 
of  piety,  though  God  himself  has  commanded  them  to  be  re- 
ceived with  thanksgiving; — to  make  it  praiseworthy  devotion 
to  worship  images,  which  God  has  called  idolatry; — to  make 
it  a  part  of  merit  before  God  to  adore  saints  and  angels,  which 
God  has  foretold  as  beguiling  us  of  our  reward; — to  make  it  a 
part  of  religion  to  contrive  rebellion  against  kings,  whom  God 

*  See  Burnett's  Hist.  Ref.  p.  244;  Gibbon,  vol.  xii.  p.  311,  and  Keith's  Signs 
of  the  Times,  vol.  i.  p.  133,  &c. 

I  Mr.  Irving  considered  that  the  word  "Mystery"  emblazoned  on  the  fore- 
head of  the  Babylonish  Harlot,  (Rev.  xvii.)  was  designed  to  identify  her  with 
"the  mystery"  of  iniquity  of  3nd  Thess.  ii.  See  "Babylon  Foredoomed,"  p. 
403. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   275 

has  called  us  to  honour; — and  a  proof  of  zeal  for  God  to  per- 
petrate the  most  atrocious  cruelties  that  ever  man  perpetrated 
on  his  fellow-men; — for  the  greatest  of  sinners  to  promise  to 
forgive  sin; — to  pretend  to  be  the  very  fountain  of  all  peace, 
harmlessness,  spotlessness,  and  purity,  and  yet  to  be  full  of  all 
wickedness,  and  stir  up  wars  and  ruin  countries,  and  destroy 
innumerable  multitudes; — to  pretend  to  be  the  vicar  of  Christ, 
and  instead  of  being  meek,  to  be  clothed  with  pride;  instead 
of  preaching,  never  to  preach;  instead  of  being  a  sufferer,  to 
sit  in  all  the  pomp  and  glory  of  this  world,  reign  over  the 
earth,  and  wear  his  triple  crown,  full  of  precious  stones  and 
diamonds."     Prog.  Poper}',  p.  19. 

Certainly  when  we  look  at  this  picture  and  look  at  those 
delineations  of  Antichrist  which  are  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, it  seems  wonderful  how  any  can  resist  the  conclusion 
that  we  have  a  lively  imitation  of  it  in  the  papacy.  To  deny 
that  these  can  apply  to  the  papacy,  and  to  conclude  that  that 
power  has  not  been  contemplated  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  any  of 
the  passages  which  have  been  referred  to,  and  that  the  cloud 
of  interpreters  who  have  so  applied  them  have  been  mistaken, 
— seems  to  be  irreconcileable  with  the  ordinary  principles  of 
reasoning  and  just  induction.  Nevertheless  some  eminent 
men  have  judged  contrary.  Zanchius  and  Grotius  have  both 
deprecated  the  making  out  the  pope  to  be  Antichrist.  Ham- 
mond has  done  the  same;  and  Archbishop  Sheldon  in  a  public 
disputation  at  Oxford,  undertook  to  oppugn  the  common 
notions  respecting  Antichrist,  and  to  evince  the  error  of  ap- 
plying that  prophetic  name  and  character  to  the  pope  or  bishop 
of  Rome,*  Thorndyke  in  his  work  on  the  Revelation  has 
also  denied  it;  but  he  goes  with  Grotius  and  Hammond,  not 
only  in  this  particular,  but  in  the  limiting  prophecy  to  a  pri- 
mary literal  application,.  Recently,  through  the  writings  of 
Mr.  Mailland  of  Gloucester  and  Mr.  Burgh  of  Dublin,  many 
have  begun  seriously  to  question,  whether  the  pope  be  the 
Antichrist;  though  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  the  difficulties  which 
the  prophetical  system  of  some  of  these  writers  remove  out  of 
the  way  of  superficial  readers, — by  making  all  these  prophecies 
relate  only  to  the  future,  and  by  leading  us  to  expect  that, 
when  fulfilled,  the  agreement  of  the  accomplishment  with  the 
prophecy  will  be  so  striking  and  conspicuous  that  none  will  be 
able  to  question  it, — is  a  great  inducement  to  many  to  receive 
their  views,  who  would  fain  be  spared  the  trouble  of  reading 
history  and  of  studying  and  comparing  prophecy,  and  who 
now  are  satisfied  to  wait  supinely  for  events  which  are  to 

*  See  Whitley's  "Scheme,  &c,  of  Prophecy,"  p.  10. 


276   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

speak  with  sufficient  plainness  for  themselves.  Mr.  Faber 
would  at  first  view  seem  to  countenance  the  statement  of  these 
writers;  for  he  says  "The  donation  of  the  name  of  Antichrist 
to  the  pope  is  purely  gratuitous.  It  rests  upon  no  certain 
warrant  of  scripture,  and  indeed  it  may  rather  be  said  to  con- 
tradict it.  The  predicted  Anticlirist  is  an  infidel  and  an  athe- 
ist." Vol.  ii.  p.  209.*  But  Mr.  Faber  does  in  reality  be- 
long to  a  very  different  class  of  writers:  his  objection  being 
merely  to  the  name  of  Antichrist,  and  to  the  application  of 
Dan.  xi.  and  1  John  ii.  22  to  the  pope.  For  he  himself  ap- 
plies the  Little  Horn  of  Daniel  vii.  to  the  pope,  as  also  various 
parts  of  the  Apocalypse,  which  other  writers  have  been  wont 
to  include  among  the  prophecies  which  describe  the  Anti- 
christ.! 

That  which  is  most  to  be  feared,  and  most  jealously  to  be 
watched,  is  the  tendency  of  all  writers,  however  pious  and 
able,  to  carry  out  their  own  views  to  an  extreme.     Some  of 


*  He  quotes  Bishop  Horsley's  Letters  on  Isaiah  xviii.  (pp.  105,  lOG)  to  the 
same  effect. 

t  The  following  is  a  brief  summary  of  Mr.  Paber's  explanation  and  appli- 
cation of  Daniel  vii.    Vol.  ii.  p.  93,  &c. 
The  Little  Horn 


1.  is  diverse  from  the  rest  of  the  ten 
horns,  (v.  21.) 


has  three  of  the  ten  horns  plucked 
up  before  him,  (vv.  8,  20,  24.) 


has  eyes  like  the  eyes  of  a  man,  (v. 
8.) 

has  a  mouth  speakmg  great  things, 
and  a  look  more  stout  than  his  fel- 
lows, (v.  20.) 


5.  speaks  great  words  against  (or  be- 
side) the  Most  High,  (v.  2.5.) 

6.  thinks  to  chan^'e  times  and  laws, 
(V.  25.) 


7.  persecutes  the  saints,  (v.  21,  25.) 

8.  has  1260  years  limited  for  his  reign, 


The  Pofe 

1.  possessed  a  spiritual  power  at  first, 
whereas  theirs  was  temporal:  after- 
wards it  was  ecclesiastical  and  spi- 
ritual as  well  as  civil  and  temporal. 

2.  The  Herulo- Turing ic,  the  Ostro- 
goUiic,  and  the  Lombardic,  were 
seated  in  Italy  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  pope;  and  they  were  plucked 
up  for  him. 

3.  claims  a  universal  episcopacy  or 
overseers/lip. 

4.  "has  anathematized  all  who  have 
dared  to  oppose  him;  has  laid  whole 
kingdoms  under  an  interdict;  has 
excommunicated  kings  and  empe- 
rors; has  absolved  their  subjects 
from  their  allegiance;  has  affected 
greater  authority,  even  in  temporal 
matters,  than  sovereign  princes; 
and  has  pronounced  that  the  do- 
minion of  the  whole  earth  rightfully 
belongs  to  him." 

5.  is  styled  Our  Lord  God  the  Pope, 
&c..  &.C. 

G.  institutes  new  modes  of  worship, 
articles  of  faith,  and  rules  of  prac- 
tice; and  reverses  at  pleasure  the 
laws  of  God  and  man. 

7.  from  age  to  age  has  persecuted  those 
who  protested  against  the  idolatries 
of  the  papacy. 

8.  has  domineered  through  twelve 
centuries. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    277 

those  who  refer  these  prophecies  to  the  papacy  have  doubtless 
greatly  strained  certain  portions  of  them  in  order  to  force  them 
to  apply;  and  have  also,  with  the  same  ohject  in  view,  exag- 
gerated some  of  the  fads  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
papacy.  Every  departure  from  truth  must  prove  evil  in  the 
end.  But  whilst  there  is  no  need  to  go  to  the  length  of  bi- 
shops Hurd  and  Warburton,  and  to  conclude  that  the  whole 
design  and  intent  of  prophecy  was  to  give  its  voice  and  suiTrage 
in  favour  of /;roto/a??//.ym,  strictly  so  called;  yet  tliere  is  the 
opposite  extreme  to  which  some  have  been  urged,  of  extenuat- 
ing and  palliating  the  enormities  and  blasphemies  of  popery, 
for  the  sake  of  proving  that  the  prophecies  do  not  speak  of  the 
papacy;  and  thus  are  such  writers  actually  playing  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemies  of  God  and  his  Christ.  It  is  one  thing 
to  say  that  the  features  of  the  harlot,  with  all  their  bloatedness 
and  deformity,  do  not  seem  in  all  respects  to  answer  to  these 
depicted  in  the  word  of  God;  (which  is  the  prudent  limit 
within  which  some  of  this  school  have  confined  their  remarks:) 
it  is  another  thing  to  make  comparatively  light  of  her  pro- 
ceedings— to  deny  her  antichristian  character,  her  apostacy, 
her  idolatry,  her  persecution  of  the  saints  of  God,  which  have 
nevertheless  been  in  part  or  in  whole  denied  by  others.  jNIr. 
Cuninghame  justly  observes,  that  the  proceedings  of  such 
'.vriters  are  calculated  "to  fill  their  disciples  with  a  spirit  of 
lukewarmness  and  indifference  to  the  protestant  cause;"  and 
they  certainly  appear  to  be  preparing  the  way  for  the  re- 
ascendancy  of  her  spiritual  domination.  I  will  close  this  point 
with  an  extract  from  j\Ir.  Bickersteth's  "Practical  Guide  to  the 
Prophecies,"  which  is  expressed  with  his  usual  good  sense  and 
piety.* — 

"It  has  been  noticed  already,  that  some  modern  writers  of 
prophecy  (whose  powers  qf  mind,  established  piety,  and  acute- 
ness  of  remark,  are  such  as  to  entitle  their  works  to  conside- 
ration,) have  endeavoured  to  set  aside  the  Protestant  applica- 
tion of  the  jNIan  of  Sin  to  Popery,  and  of  Babylon  to  Papal 
Rome.  The  author  has  read  some  of  these  works,  he  hopes 
not  without  edification,  from  their  practical   character;    nor 

*  It  may  be  well  to  observe  here,  that  some,  in  their  zeal  to  overthrow  the 
application  of  these  prophecies  to  popery,  have  declared  that  they  suit  as  well 
the  c/iurck  of  England;  which  is  viewed  by  many  of  late,  especially  among 
dissenters,  as  the  Babylon  and  Harlot  of  the  Apocalypse.  It  is  sufficient  to 
observe,  in  reply,  that  if  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  church  of  England 
are  spiritual  fornication,  she  is  just  the  reverse  of  endeavouring  to  make  others 
partake  of  her  fornication;  being  more  obnoxious  to  the  charge  of  supineness, 
in  respect  to  propagating  her  sentiments  and  in  regard  to  making  proselytes, 
than  with  zealotry  or  bigotry.  Neither  has  she  been  "drunk  v:itk  the  blood  of 
the  saints:"  forTimong  all  her  sins  and  defects,  it  is  difficult  to  find  an  instance 
of  persecution  unto  blood. 


278    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

without  increase  of  caution  in  the  views  which  he  holds;  but 
with  no  conviction  that  they  have  overturned  the  great  mass 
of  argument  by  which  the  Protestant  Church  had  established 
that  application.  When  we  consider  how  explicitly  our  God 
has  begun  and  closed  the  book  of  Revelation  with  a  blessing, 
promised  to  those  who  read  and  hear  the  words  of  that  pro- 
phecy, (Rev.  i.  3;  xxii.  7.)  it  is  surely  improbable  that  the 
general  result  to  which  Protestant  writers  have,  for  several 
centuries,  with  a  great  unanimity,  come,  should  be  erroneous. 
The  expressions  of  the  Apostle,  (twice  also  repeated,  Rev.  i. 
1;  xxii.  6.)  lead  us  to  think,  that  what  he  foretold  would  be- 
gin shortly  to  come  to  pass.  God  greatly  honoured  this  view  as 
a  mighty  means  of  confirming  the  Reformers,  supporting  them 
at  the  stake,  and  thereby  extending  the  blessed  Reformation. 
Cressener  (in  his  valuable  works)  has  shown  that  Roman  Ca- 
tholic writers  themselves  furnish  many  testiitionies  strength- 
ening the  Protestant  application  of  leading  parts  of  these  pro- 
phecies to  Rome.  As  it  is  very  improbable  that  the  church 
should  be  left  to  struggle  through  eighteen  centuries  of  conflict, 
darkness,  and  sorrow,  without  such  a  lamp  as  the  Revelation 
giving  a  light  on  its  path,  (yet  allowedly  a  feeble  light,  shining 
in  a  dark  place,  2  Peter  i.  19)  so,  in  point  of  fact,  devoted 
Christians,  from  age  to  age,  during  these  centuries,  have  found 
great  support  and  comfort  from  the  rays  of  light  which  this 
book  shed  on  their  course. 

It  is,  however,  an  advantage  to  be  led  to  reconsider  the 
ground  on  which  the  Protestant  interpretation  rests,  and  fresh 
light  will  be  thrown,  not  only  on  fulfilled,  but  also  on  unful- 
filled prophecy.  In  this  vievv  the  works  of  such  writers  may 
be  eminently  useful.  But  whatever  farther  fulfilments  may 
take  place  in  the  close  of  this  mystery  of  iniquity,  and  in  its 
final  destruction,  the  past  fulfilment,  in  several  leading  particu- 
lars, has  been  such  as  to  satisfy  a  large  body  of  the  Reformed 
phurch  of  Christ."  p.  94. 

IV.  It  is  a  question,  however,  deserving  of  serious  regard, 
whether  any  part  of  the  prophecies  concerning  antichrist  have 
been  fulfilled  by  the  false  prophet  Mahomet,  and  by  the  blas- 
phemous and  wicked  apostacy  of  which  he  was  the  author. 

1.  It  is  remarkable  that  Sulpitius  Severus,  so  early  as  the 
fifth  century,  speaks  o[  tzco  antichrists  which  should  arise — one 
from  the  east  and  one  from  the  zvest;  (2  Dial,  de  Vita  Mart. 
Cap.  14.)  which  seems  to  lay  a  sort  of  traditional  foundation 
for  the  expectation  of  tzuo  persons  or  powers  who  should 
answer  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  to  the  descriptions  given  in 
the  scriptures  of  the  great  adversary  or  adversaries  of  God. 
Prosper  advances  something  of  the  same  kind  (De  promiss.  p. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   279 

65.)  but  he  grounds  it  rather  upon  the  mention  of  Behemoth 
and  Leviathan  in  Job  xl.  xli.  the  former  arising  from  the  earth, 
the  other  from  tlie  deep  or  sea. 

Since  the  period,  liowevcr,  of  the  Reformation,  many  have 
considered,  and  with  great  probability,  not  only  that  such 
signal  adversaries  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  Mahomet  and  his  sys- 
tem, were  not  likely  to  have  been  passed  over,  but  that  they 
are  certainly  set  forth  in  the  prophecies.  Some  would  entirely 
exclude  tiie  pope,  and  make  all  the  prophecies  concerning 
antichrist  to  relate  to  JMahomct.  Among  these  the  first  with 
whom  I  am  acquainted  was  Graserus,*  who  had  many  follow- 
ers, and  in  later  times  Dr.  J.  Whitley  of  Gahvay.t  Otiiers 
whose  minds  were  struck  with  tlie  remarkable  coincidence 
between  the  acts  and  events  attending  the  rise  and  progress 
both  of  Mahomet  and  the  pope,  were  led  to  conceive  that  both 
of  them  might  have  been  intended  in  the  prophecies  relating 
to  antichrist.  One  of  the  earliest  of  these  is  Dr.  N.  Homes, 
who  draws  a  parallel  on  Daniel  vii.  between  the  pope  and 
Mahomet,  and  traces  the  coincidence  in  various  particulars.  J 
A  far  more  numerous  class  of  interpreters,  excluding  JNIaho- 
met  from  the  prophecies  which  have  hitherto  been  adduced  as 
relating  to  antichrist,  apply  to  him,  and  to  the  Saracens  and 

*  See  his  works — "Expositio  Visionis  Danielis,"  1614,  and  "Historia  Anti- 
christi,"  &c.  1618. 

t  "The  Scheme  and  Completion  of  Prophecy,"  by  this  writer,  has  been 
more  than  once  alluded  to  in  this  volume.  It  is  an  able  work;  but  abounding 
in  absurdities;  and  here  maybe  seen,  interwoven  with  it  throughout,  what 
has  been  not  long  since  hinted  at— a  constant  endeavour  to  palliate  and  justify 
the  abominations  of  jiopery.  Yea,  the  opinions  of  those  protestants  who  view 
popery  as  antichrist  are  roundly  attributed  to  a  bigoifcd,  a  controversial,  a 
schismalical  and  a  selfish,  spirit;  and  protestants  are  exhorted  to  cease  from 
controversy  with  Rome,  and  to  unite  with  her  against  the  common  enemy  and 
antichrist — Mahomet.     Could  a  Jesuit  say  morel 

t  See  his  work  "The  Resurrection  Revealed,"  1654.  Revised  Ed.  1833, 
page  148.  His  language  is,  "That  the  ansiccrs  to  those,  who  understand  by 
the  antichrist  Mahoynet,  are  not  to  him  sutHcient,  any  more  than  the  arguments 
of  those  who  make  it  only  Rome.  But  (he  says,)  I  would  propose  tliis  expe- 
dient to  the  learned;  viz.  to  consider  the  Turk  and  the  pope  to  be  the  main  in- 
tegrals of  antichrist.  For  upon  an  exact  review  of  what  has  been  said  on  both 
sides  touchmg  the  little  horn,  it  would  appear  that  all  may  be  accommodated 
to  either,  though  perhaps  more  appositely  to  the  Turk.  And  if  they  that  make 
it  a  Roman  horn  may  be  led  thereunto  from  the  fear  of  omitting  anything  that 
foretels  the  ruin  of  the  Roman  antichrist;  so  must  we  be  jealous  of  waiving 
anything  that  threatens  the  ruin  of  the  JMahometan  anticlirist.  For  with  me  I 
confess  it  is  a  rule,  which  diligent  observation,  as  I  have  gone  through  the 
scriptures,  has  irresistibly  engrafted  into  my  reason, — that  all  the  scriptures 
touching  the  great  restoration  of  the  church,  &c.  do  more  immediately  and 
directly  look  toward  the  Jews:  consequentially  and  inclusively  only  upon  the 
Gentiles:  and  therefore  they  do  necessarily  more  directly  threaten  the  ruin  of 
the  Mahometan  Turkish  antichrist,  who  is  their  more  immediate  and  cruel 
enemy,  inhaliiting  all  their  borders;  and  next  they  extend  to  the  Roman  anti- 
christ, taking  him  in  under  the  general  notion  of  a  grand  enemy  to  the  con- 
version both  of  Jews  and  Gentiles  unto  Christ,  and  of  the  glorious  reformation 
of  the  church,  &c. 


280   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Turks,  Rev.  ix.  in  which  is  described  the  ascent  of  the  Lo- 
custs from  the  bottomless  pit,  having  a  king  over  them  whose 
name  is  Abaddon  and  Apolhjon — the  Destroyer.  This  chap- 
ter is  indeed  almost  universally  applied  to  the  Mahometans. 

Of  late  years,  however,  some  eminent  Expositors  have  ap- 
plied the  little  horn  of  the  he-goat  in  Daniel  viii.  exclusively 
to  Mahomet;  and  thus  they  separate  and  distinguish  between 
the  little  horn  of  the  fourth  beast  in  Dan.  vii.  making  the  one 
the  western  antichrist  or  the  papacy,  and  the  other  the  eastern 
antichrist  or  Mahometanism.  There  is  an  able  treatise  on  this 
subject  in  Mr.  King's  "Morsels  of  Criticism,"  published  in 
1788.  Mr.  Whitaker  took  the  same  view  in  1795;  he  has 
been  followed  by  Mr.  Faber,  Mr.  Frere,  Mr.  Keith  and  others. 
Mr.  Faber  was  the  means  of  Mr.  Scott's  adopting  that  view 
in  the  later  editions  of  his  Commentary;  though  he  is  not  dis- 
posed to  apply  it  exclusively  to  Mahomet.  On  the  one  hand 
he  observes,  '<It  appears  to  me  unaccountable,  on  mature 
reflection,  that  there  should  be  in  these  concise,  yet  most 
comprehensive,  prophecies  of  Daniel,  so  many  repeated  and 
particular  predictions  of  the  papal  delusions  in  the  west,  and 
not  a  hint  of  the  Mahomedan  delusion  in  the  east,  the  progress 
and  efiects  of  which  have  been  most  extensively  mischievous; 
and  are  specially  and  separately  noted  as  such  by  John,  Rev. 
ix."  (Note  on  verses  9 — 12.)  But  on  the  other  hand  he 
says — *']No  doubt  the  character  here  given  of  this  'little  horn,' 
and  the  prediction  of  his  exploits,  as  expositors  have  copiously 
shewn  in  a  variety  of  circumstances,  do  accord  to  those  of  the 
Roman  antichrist:  but  do  they  accord  to  him  exclusively? 
Probably  the  more  any  sober-minded  man  studies  the  history 
of  Mahometanism,  the  fuller  will  be  his  conviction,  that  the 
features  of  the  two  delusions,  as  of  tuin  sisters,  are  far  more 
alike  than  it  is  generally  supposed."  On  verses  23 — 25.  The 
idea  of  the  txcin  sisters  is  somewhat  akin  to  another  figure  of 
speech  of  Dr.  Prideaux  on  the  same  subject,  who,  being  struck 
with  the  coincidence  of  the  rising  up  of  the  Mahomedan  apos- 
tacy  at  the  same  time  with  the  pope  being  constituted  bishop 
of  bishops,  exclaimed,  that  antichrist  had  at  that  time  set  both 
his  feet  on  Christendom  together,  the  one  in  the  east,  the  other 
in  the  west.*     In  Faber,  vol.  i.  p.  256. 

*  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  and  Bishop  Newton,  and  after  them  Mr.  Cnninghame 
and  some  others,  suppose  the  Little  Horn  of  the  Goat  to  denote  the  Roman 
empire  in  the  east.  Mr.  Keith  expounds  Dan.  xi.  31.  of  the  standing  up  of  the 
Roman  power  in  the  east,  and  in  this  manner  endeavours  to  account  for  the 
supposed  breaking  off  of  the  regular  narrative  at  this  verse.  "The  eras  of  the 
Seleucida?  and  of  the  Ptolemies,  or  Lagidoe,  are  well  known  in  history  and 
highly  useful  in  chronology,  and  from  the  time  of  the  formation  of  their  king- 
doms the  line  of  prophetic  history  is  traced  down  in  regular  narrative,  till 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  OgJ 

2.  There  are  some  obvious  considerations  which  seem  at 
once  to  evince,  that  tlie  horn  of  Daniel  viii.  cannot  be  the 
same  power  as  that  of  Daniel  vii. 

First,  It  seems  unaccountable  that  the  vision  of  chapter  vii. 
describing  the  rise  of  a  little  horn  should  be  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  chapter  viii.  describing  also  the  rise  of  a  little 
horn,  without  any  reference  at  all  to  the  fact  (if  it  be  so)  of  its 
being  the  same  power  already  delineated. 

Secondly,  The  horn  of  chapter  vii.  arises  out  of  the  fourth 
beast.  But  the  horn  of  chapter  viii.  arises  from  out  of  one  of 
the  four  horns  which  proceeded  from  the  broken  horn  of  the 
goat;  and  tliis  corresponds  with  the  third  beast,  or  the  Leopard, 
of  Daniel  vii.  Moreover,  it  appears  strange  to  speak  of  the 
latter  little  horn,  as  arising  out  of  one  of  the  foi/r  horns,  if  it 
were  out  of  an  empire  which  comprehended  them  all, — that  is 
to  say,  as  out  of  a  principaHtij,  instead  of  out  of  the  kingdom 
or  empire  which  included  tliat  principality.  If  indeed  the 
pope  had  had  his  principal  scat  in  that  principality,  or  first  had 
been  exalted  therein  to  universal  jurisdiction,  there  would  have 
been  great  reason  for  it:  but  this  not  being  the  case,  it  is  clear 
that  some  other  power  must  be  intended. 

Thirdly,  As  the  rise  of  the  horns  appears  to  be  territorially 
different,  so  does  their  end,  as  already  noticed:  the  one  being 
"slain  and  his  body  given  to  the  flame;"  the  other  being 
"broken  without  hand." 

3,  There  are  other  points  which  correspond  well  with  the 
character  and  proceedings  of  jNIahomet  and  his  successors. 

(L)  The  little  horn  of  the  goat  was  to  be  a  king  of  fierce 
countenance,  and  understanding  dark  sentences:  Mahomet 
declared  himself  both  king  and  prophet;  and  the  Koran 
abounds  with  dark  and  enigmatical  sentences,  and  with  inflat- 
ed hyperbole,  in  which 'the  Mahometans  boast,  and  call  it 
sublime. 

(2.)  The  horn  was  to  wax  great  toward  the  south  and 
toward  the  east,  and  toward  the  pleasant  land.  This  was  pre- 
cisely the  direction  of  the  JNIahomcdan  conquests;  and  "so 
remarkably  (says  Mr.  Habershon)  have  these  territorial  limits 
been  observed,  that  whenever  the  Turkish  armies  have 
attempted  to  force  their  barriers  and  to  penetrate  into  the 
kingdoms  of  the  west,  they  have  uniformly  been  unsuccessful. 


the  Romans  attained  the  ascendancy  in  the  east,  and  established  their  antho- 
rity  within  the  boundaries  of  the  liingdom  that  had  been  Alexander's,  thus 
connecting;  these  great  empires,  the  Grecian — from  which  the  kings  of  Syria 
and  Egypt  took  their  rise, — and  the  Roman, — by  which  their  kingdoms  were 
finally  subverted."  Vol.  i.  p.  51.  Luther  understood  Dan.  viii.  of  the  papal 
powers,  without  any  limitation. 
VOL.  II. — 24 


282   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

For  a  long  period  after  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  in  1453 
they  were  the  terror  of  Europe,  and  threatened  to  overrun  its 
fairest  provinces;  and  it  has  called  forth  the  best  energies  of 
the  most  powerful  emperors  of  Germany  and  other  monarchs 
to  withstand  them.  In  like  manner  when  the  combined  armies 
of  Western  Europe,  under  the  most  gallant  leaders,  and  with 
an  enthusiasm  almost  more  than  human,  poured  like  a  torrent 
upon  the  plains  of  Asia,  and  at  eight  or  ten  different  limes  en- 
gaged in  crusades  to  dispossess  the  Mahomedan  power  of  the 
holy  land,  they  were  equally  unsuccessful;  and  the  myriads 
that  embarked  in  these  chivalrous  expeditions  vvenl  almost  to 
certain  destruction,  either  from  famine  or  slaughter  or  disease. 
Thus  accurately  has  the  scene  of  this  vision  been  confined 
within  its  allotted  bounds!"  P.  278. 

(3.)  By  this  horn  '<the  place  of  the  sanctuary"  of  the  Prince 
of  the  Host  (explained  in  verse  25  to  be  the  Prince  of  princes) 
is  "cast  down;"  and  Jerusalem  has  now  been  trodden  under 
foot  by  the  Mahomedan  power  for  nearly  1200  years. 

(4.)  "He  shall  deslroy  zoo?iderfulli/;"  and  hence  in  Rev.  ix. 
(as  just  now  has  been  noticed,)  he  is  called  Abaddon  and 
ApoUijon,  which  signify  the  Destroyer.  Nothing  is  more  re- 
markable, of  a  political  character,  in  the  whole  history  of  Ma- 
hometanism,  than  its  desolating  character.  Not  only  has  it 
laid  waste  various  provinces  in  the  ordinary  course  of  war, 
and  shed  the  blood  of  myriads  of  the  apostatized  people  of 
God;  but  even  now,  throughout  its  own  empire,  "■destruction 
and  misery  are  in  its  paths."  The  fairest  tracts  of  territory 
go  out  of  cultivation  and  become  no  better  than  deserts;  cities 
are  forsaken  of  their  inhabitants;  and  the  population  is  con- 
tinually on  the  decrease. 

(5.)  He  "stands  up  against  the  Prince  of  princes."  What 
the  pope  does  only  in  an  indirect  manner,  (for  he  professes  the 
truth  in  regard  to  the  person  of  Christ,)  Mahomet  has  done 
openly.  He  puts  aside  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  and 
he  denies  that  God  is  a  Father  and  has  a  son;  thus  answering 
in  a  most  literal  manner  the  character  of  Antichrist  in  1  John 
ii.  22 — "Who  is  a  liar,  but  he  that  denieth  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ? — He  is  Antichrist  that  denielh  the  Father  and  the  Son.'' 

(G.)  "Through  his  policy  he  shall  cause  craft  to  prosper  in 
his  hand," — "and  by  fraud ''^  shall  destroy  many."  Gibbon 
says  of  him,  "The  use  oi  fraud  and  per  fid  i/,  of  cruelty  and  in- 
justice, was  often  subservient  to  the  propagation  of  the  faith." 
— "In  the  support  of  truth,  the  arts  of frai/d  andfidion  may  be 
deemed  less  criminal:  and  he  would  have  started  at  the  foul- 

♦  Our  Translation  has  "by  wacc"  but  the  Septuaginl  and  the  Arabic  have 
by  "fraud?' 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  283 

ness  of  the  means,  had  he  not  been  satisfied  of  the  importance 
and  justice  of  the  end."     Vol.  ix.  322,  323. 

These  are  some  of  the  points  of  resemblance;  there  are 
others,  which,  if  not  so  immediately  obvious,  can  nevertheless 
be  applied  to  Mahomet  and  his  successors  with  as  much  plau- 
sibility as  they  can  be  applied  to  the  pope  and  his  successors. 

4.  It  only  remains  to  name  a  few  of  those  particulars  in 
which,  according  to  the  opinion  of  some,  Mahomet  is  even/ 
where  intended  in  the  prophecies  concerning  Antichrist; — 
i.  e.  either  exclusively,  or  jointly  with  the  pope,  as  has  been 
shewn. 

First,  he  is  considered  to  be  ^Hhe  Assyria?!,"  because  he  pos- 
sesses the  literal  Babylon  and  Assyria  within  his  empire: 
whence  Euphrates  is  also  considered  as  the  symbol  of  the 
Turkish  empire  in  the  Apocalypse.*  Secondly,  he  showed 
himself  to  be  a  "Lawless  One,"  or  "Man  of  Sin,"  who  legal- 
ised by  precept  and  by  example  fornication  and  adultery,  and 
enjoined  in  numerous  instances  rebellion  and  massacre.  Third- 
ly, he  magnified  himself  against  God,  and  against  all  that  is 
called  God,  by  openly  exalting  himself  over  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  a  greater  prophet  than  he;  and  he  likewise  called 
himself  the  Paraclete  or  Comforter.  Fourth,  he  plucked  up 
three  horns;  viz.  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Africa, — supposed  to  be 
pointed  out  by  Dan.  xi.  42,  43, — "The  land  of  Egypt  shall  not 
escape;  the  Ethiopians  and  Lybians  shall  be  at  his  steps."! 
Fifth,  the  number  of  his  name,  when  written  in  Greek, 
(MctswsTK,)  is  found  to  contain  666. 

5.  There  are  some  points  likewise  in  which  his  coming  and 
proceedings  agree  with  the  expectations  of  certain  of  the 
fathers  concerning  Antichrist.  For  example,  that  he  should 
come  in  Chxnmcision; — that  he  should  rise  up  at  the  period  of 
the  dismemberment  of  the  Roman  empire; — that  he  should  be 
a  destroyer  of  idols,  and  yet  be  himself  the  object  of  idolatrous 
worship.  Thus  Mahomet  wept  over  the  grave  of  his'  mother, 
because  as  an  idolatress  she  could  not  be  savcd;J '  (thus  shew- 
ing, as  some  have  concluded,  that  he  did  not  regard  the  God 
of  his  fathers;  Dan.  xi.  37,)  and  he  was  so  greatly  the  idol  of 

*  Some  try  to  make  out,  and  have  considerable  authority  for  so  doing,  that 
Gog  and  Magog  are  the  Turks  and  Saracens:  others  consider  them  to  be  the 
Russians. 

t  Jerome  said  that  the  Antichrist  was  to  subdue  Egypt,  Africa  and  Ethio- 
pia; meaning  by  the  latter  the  Arabian  Ethiopia  of  Genesis  ii. 

t  Nicholas  de  Lyra  and  Paulus  Burgensis,  who  wrote  about  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  thought  the  Mahometan  persecution  would  be  the 
longest  wliicli  the  chui-ch  would  sulfer,  and  the  Aniichristian  (which  they 
considered  altogether  dilFerent)  would  be  the  .shortest;  and  for  this  reason:  viz. 
that  Mahomet  was  not  idolatrous,  therefore  that  God  would  the  longer  endure 
with  him. 


284   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

iiis  companions,  that  they  collected  his  hair,  his  spittle,  and 
the  refuse  water  from  his  lustrations,  as  objects  of  their  vene- 
ration.* 

V.  The  last  form  of  Antichrist,  which  yet  remains  to  be 
noticed,  is  that  of  hifidelitij.  The  conviction  that  those  scrip- 
tures which  speak  of  the  Antichrist  have  not  in  all  respects 
been  satisfactorily  fulfilled  in  any  one  power  that  has  already 
appeared,  has  led  writers  at  difierent  periods  to  apply  (as  we 
have  seen)  some  things  to  the  Papacy,  and  some  to  Mahome- 
tanism;  whilst  other  things  they  consider  not  to  have  been  yet 
accomplished  in  either  of  those  powers,  but  to  have  respect  to 
events  which  are  yet  future.  And  whilst  certain  writers  have 
inferred,  from  the  defectiveness  in  the  interpretation  thus  aris- 
ing, that  nothing  has  been  fulfilled  which  regards  the  Anti- 
christ, but  that  we  must  fall  back  in  all  respects  upon  the 
expectations  entertained  by  the  primitive  fathers  of  Christiani- 
ty; others — being  instructed  by  the  remarkable  events  which 
have  transpired  in  later  years,  and  by  those  signs  of  the  times 
which  bespeak  that  we  are  entered  upon  the  last  days, — have 
been  gradually  led  to  separate  and  distinguish  between  what 
may  be  termed  the  several  jihases  of  antichristianism,  and  to 
apply  different  portions  of  prophecy  to  distinct  powers. 

1.  The  French  Revolution,  from  its  extraordinary  character 
and  the  awfully  important  consequences  to  which  it  has  given 
rise,  has  justly  been  considered  to  have  formed  a  new  epoch  in 
the  history  both  of  the  church  and  world;  and  hence  many 
have  been  led  to  date  the  rising  up  of  the  Infidel  Antichrist  from 
that  period;!  though  others  (as  Mr.  Faber,)  trace  the  workings 
of  infidelity  in  their  avowed  and  manifest  character  up  to  an 
earlier  period.  Certain  it  is,  that  as  the  mystery  of  iniquity, 
or  the  principles  which  led  to  the  usurpation  and  apostacy  of 
the  bishops  of  Rome,  was  at  work  at  a  much  earlier  period 
than  the  age  of  Justinian  or  Phocas,  though  it  has  been  sup- 
posed to  have  been  made  manifest  or  revealed  as  the  Anti- 
christ only  from  the  date  of  some  imperial  decree  which  in- 
vested it  with  power  and  authority;  so  has  the  leaven  of 
infidelity  been  gradually  pervading  the  mass  of  European 
society,  more  especially  in  France,  for  a  considerable  period 
previous  to  its  any  where  assuming  a  national  character  in  a 
previously  christianized  nation. 

Mr.  Kett,  who  published  his  work  called  "History  the  in- 

*  For  the  proofs  of  these  latter  points,  see  the  work  of  Dr.  "Whitley  pre- 
viously referred  to. 

+  Mr.  Irving,  for  example,  considers  the  French  Revolution  to  be  "the 
death-throe — the  last  gasp  and  termination  of  life — to  ihe  papal  beast  of  42 
months,  and  the  first  breath  and  act  of  life  to  another  beast— the  beast  from 
the  bottomless  pit." 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   285 

terpreter  of  prophecy,"  was  among  the  first  of  those  who 
marked  out  any  particular  portion  of  prophecy  as  applicable  to 
the  infidel  Antichrist; — viz.  L)an.  xi. — from  the  36th  verse. 
At  the  same  time  he  considered  chapters  vii.  viii.  and  xi.  of 
Daniel  as  referable,  in  the  general,  to  Popery,  INIahometanism, 
or  Infidelity.  JSIr.  Faber  has  since  more  carefully  distin- 
guislied  that  which  Mr.  Kelt  has  applied  indiscriminately,  and 
refers  Dan.  vii.  to  the  Papacy,  Dan.  viii.  to  Mahometanism, 
and  Dan.  xi.  from  the  36th  verse  to  Infidelity.  Mr.  Frere  has 
followed  in  the  same  track,  with  the  exception  that  he  com- 
mences his  interpretation  of  the  infidel  Antichrist  from  verse 
21  of  Dan.  xi.  which  he  applies  to  Najioleon.  He  has  been 
followed  in  these  particulars  by  Mr.  Cooper  and  by  Mr.  Ir- 
ving. Mr.  Keith  finds  Mahometanism,  Popery,  and  Infidelity 
successively  described  in  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  seals  of 
Rev.  vi.* 

Various  other  modifications  of  the  views  of  former  interpre- 
ters have  appeared,  as  the  increasing  light  which  events  have 
shed  upon  the  predictions  of  the  prophets  have  caused  them  to 
be  better  understood;  and  notwithstanding  the  apparent  dis- 
crepancies of  interpreters  in  our  own  times,  the  persuasion 
may  be  reasonably  entertained,  that  the  Lord  is  gradually  un- 
folding to  his  church  this  interesting  portion  of  his  word, — by 
giving  to  one  servant  to  see  some  one  feature  of  it;  to  a  second, 
another  feature;  and  to  a  tliird  to  correct  or  point  out  the  in- 
consistencies only  of  certain  interpretations:  for  in  no  instance 
does  the  Spirit  appear  to  have  vouchsafed  light  sufficient  to 
anv  one  expositor  to  enable  him  to  interpret  with  clearness 
and  correctness  the  whole  of  prophecy;  though  it  is  probable, 
as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  has  remarked,  that  there  is  no  writer  of 
any  note  but  has  added  something  to  the  common  treasury. 

2.  It  is  important,  hqwever,  since  we  are  now  living  in 
times,  the  signs  of  which  bespeak  that  we  must  be  hastening 
to  the  last  great  crisis  of  events,  and  consequently  to  the  last 
actings  of  the  Antichrist,  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  reader 

*  It  has  beea  questioned  by  some,  whether  tlie  expectation  ol"  an  infidel 
Antichrist  be  founded  in  truth,  and  if  the  Scriptures  which  are  supposed  to 
give  countenance  to  this  opinion  do  more  than  describe  the  last  desperate  pro- 
ceediniTs  of  popery.  It  is  not  improbable  but  that  there  may  be  a  great  identi- 
fication of  popery  with  infidelity,  seeing  that  the  priests  of  the  church  of  Rome 
are.  by  the  confession  of  Blanco  White,  formerly  a  prophet  of  their  own,  in 
general  infidels  at  heart,  though  not  avowedly  so.  Certain  it  is,  likewise,  that 
deistical  principles  have  very  extensively  infected  many  of  the  countries  of 
the  continent  whicli  are  professedly  Roman  Catholic,— as  France,  Spain, 
Saxony,  Bavaria,  Italy,  &c.  But  however  these  principles  may  be  ready  for 
explosion,  and  to  bring  about  that  state  of  things  which  will  exist  before  the 
last  catastrophe,  insomuch  that  popery  may  after  all  be  considered  as  the  parent 
of  infidelity; '5'et  it  will  be  shewn  presently  that  the  difference  is  decided  be- 
tween the  ieign  of  infidelity  and  the  tyranny  of  the  papacy. 


28G    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

to  some  farther  particulars  calculated  to  inform  him  respecting 
the  character  of  that  awful  apostacy,  and  to  prepare  him  for  it. 
For  many,  it  is  feared,  are  now  helping  it  forward,  and  are 
more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  that  "strong  delusion"  by 
which  it  will  be  accompanied,  who  ought  rather  to  be  warning 
men  of  their  great  danger,  and  leading  them  to  be  jealous  of 
every  thing  which  appears  like  an  approximation  to  its  spirit 
or  principles. 

(I.)  It  is  necessary,  then,  to  observe,  that  the  Antichristian 
power,  set  forth  as  the  Beast  of  the  Apocalypse,  correspond- 
ing \vith  the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel  vii.  is  presented  to  us  under 
three  aspects — so  different  in  some  of  their  characteristics,  as  to 
lead  to  the  necessary  conclusion  that  they  must  refer  to  differ- 
ent periods  of  action;  whilst  at  the  same  time  there  is  a  suffi- 
cient identity  between  all  three  to  make  it  apparent,  that  it 
m.ust  be  the  same  power  throughout,  only  metamorphosed. 
They  resemble  indeed  the  transmutations  of  an  insect,  from 
the  worm  to  the  chrysalis,  and  from  the  clirysalis  to  the  fly; 
which  continues  the  same  insect  still,  though  it  assumes  difier- 
ent  forms  and  functions. 

The  first  of  these  forms  is  that  of  the  "great  red  dragon, 
having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  seven  crowns  upon  his 
head,"  described  Rev.  xii.  3.  This  has  been  by  the  generality 
of  modern  interpreters  explained  to  be  the  Roman  Empire  in 
its  Pagan  state,  animated  by  the  spirit  of  "that  old  serpent, 
which  is  the  Devil,  and  Satan:"  (v.  9.)  for  the  dragon  is  a  sym- 
bol appropriated  in  Scripture  to  idolatrous  empires.* 

In  chap.  xiii.  the  Apostle  sees  another  vision:  "a  beast  rise 
up  out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  upon 
his  horns  ten  crowns,  and  upon  his  heads  the  name  of  blas- 
phemy." This  beast  is  evidently  the  nondescript  animal,  or 
fourth  beast,  seen  by  Daniel,  (chap,  vii.)  combining  in  his  ap- 
pearance the  leopard,  the  bear,  and  the  lion,  which  constituted 
the  three  first  beasts — "and  the  Dragon  gave  to  him  his  power, 
and  his  seat,  and  great  authority."  V.  2.  The  seven  heads 
a?id  ten  horns  sufficiently  identify  the  power  here  described  to 
be  the  same  as  the  dragon:  it  is  indeed  the  dragon  abdicating, 
as  it  were,  in  favour  of  this  beast,  and  transferring,  or  delegat- 
ing to  him  his  authority. 

In  chapter  xvii.  3,  we  have  presented  to  us  "a  scarlet- 
coloured  beast  full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  having  seven  heads 
and  tefi  hortis."  On  this  beast  is  seated  a  A«r/o/,  arrayed  also 
in  purple  and  scarlet  colour,  and  decked  with  gold  and  pre- 
cious stones,  &c.  The  seven  heads  and  ten  horns  again  serve  to 
identify  this  with  the  former  beast  and  the  dragon;  whilst,  at 
the  same  time,  there  are  various  circumstances  which  shew 

♦  See  Psalm  kxiv.  13,  14.    Isa.  xxvii.  1;  li.  9.    Jcr.  li.  3-1.    Ezek.  xxix.  3. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    987 

that  it  makes  its  appearance  under  a  different  aspect.  It  is 
declared  in  verse  8  to  be  the  beast  "that  icas,  and  is  not,  and 
shall  ascend  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  go  into  perdition." 
And  again,  as  "the  beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  and  ijtt  is.'^  It 
is  clear  from  these  statements,  tliat  the  beast  that  u-as,  is  the 
beast  from  the  sea  of  Rev.  xiii.,  who  has  now  passed  away,  but 
who  is  to  reascend  and  come  again  into  life  and  power;  and  it 
is  equally  clear  that  this  reascension  is  to  be  from  the  holtom- 
less  pit,  and  not  from  the  sea.* 

Some  have  thought,  and  with  considerable  probability,  that 
Rev.  xiii.  3,  alludes  to  this  fact  of  his  death  and  revival — "And 
I  saw  one  of  his  heads  as  it  were  wounded  to  death;  and  his 
deadly  wound  was  healed:  and  all  the  world  uv?u!ercd  after  the 
beast."  The  expression  o(  wo/iderme/it  seems,  indeed,  decidedly 
to  fix  it  to  Rev.  xvii.  8 — "And  they  that  dwell  on  the  earth 
shall  zconder,  (whose  names  were  not  written  in  the  book  of 
life  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,)  when  they  behold  the 
beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  and  yet  is." 

The  different  aspect  of  the  beast  of  Rev.  xvii.  is  farther  set 
forth  by  two  or  three  other  circumstances.  The  one  is,  that 
*  Some  would  make  the  expression  bottomless  pit  to  be  the  same  with  the 
sea,  on  the  ground  that  the  Greek  word  a^vo-a-oi  is,  by  profane  writers,  used  iu 
the  same  sense  with  Saxars-*.  It  is  contended  also,  that  it  is  used  in  this  sense 
by  the  writers  of  the  Sepiuagint  version;  though  all  the  instances  adduced  are 
ambiguous.  But  what  is  here  contended  for  is,  that  in  the  Apocalypse,  where 
the  word  is  used  as  a  symbol,  it  must  necessarily  be  distinct  from  fldxao-j-*;  for 
the  use  of  symbols  is  precise  and  definite.  It  only  occurs  indeed  in  two  other 
places  of  the  New  Testament  besides  the  Apocalypse— viz.  Luke  viii.  31,  and 
Rom.  X.  37 — and  in  both  of  these  it  is  apparently  distinct  from  6a\5ti7o-a.  The 
one  is  where  the  devils  entreat  not  to  be  cast  out  into  the  deep,  or  pit;  the 
other  is  where  Paul  contrasts  the  deep  with  the  height  of  heaven;  which,  in 
the  Syriac  version,  (as  I  learn  from  Mr.  Cuninghame)  is  rendered  by  the 
word  Sviy  sheol,  which  signifies  Kadcs.  In  the  Apocalypse,  however,  the  mean- 
ing is  fixed  by  another  circumstance.  In  chap.  ix.  1,  2,  where  it  fii;st  occurs, 
(and  is  used  as  a  symbol,  the  locusts  being  said  to  arise  out  of  it,)  to  <^fiaf  is  used 
with  it,  in  order  more  precisely  to  point  out,  that  it  is  the  pit  of  the  deep  that  i.s 
meant;  and  having  received  this  signification,  to  <;>/««/)  is  afterwards  dropped, 
(see  v.  11,)  and  afiuj-a-og  is  used  by  itself,  evidently  with  the  same  signification 
as  if  it  were  to  <?pa/!  t«c  a/iua-a-a;  Avhich  is  plainly  the  view  of  our  Translators, 
who  uniformly  translate  it  afterwards  "i/te  bottomless  pitP  The  impropriety 
of  considering  the  expression  the  same  as  fiotxaa-s-a  will  be  apparent  from  the 
evident  absurdity  which  would  arise  were  we  to  translate  some  of  th6  places 
where  the  word  i^utr^a  occurs  by  our  word  sea:  c.  g.  "I  saw  an  angel,  &c. 
having  the  key  of  the  sea,  and  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon  and  cast  him  into  the 
sea,ands/n(</a';K  «;;,"&c.  Rev.  xxi.  1 — 3.  At  the  same  time,  if  tliispointshould 
be  considered  as  still  open  to  criticism,  it  would  not  aflcct  the  main  position; 
which  is,  that  The  beast  of  Rev.  xiii.  has  deceased,  and  is  revived  in  chap, 
xvii.,  and  that  he  reappears  under  circumstances  wjiich  give  him  a  different 
aspect. 


288  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

the  croivns  which  were  on  the  heads  of  the  dragon,  and  which 
were  removed  in  the  instance  of  the  beast  of  chap.  xiii.  to  the 
ten  horns,  have  now  aUogether  disappeared.  Another  is,  that 
power  is  given  to  the  beast  of  the  sea  to  make  war  with  the 
saints,  and  to  overcome  them;  (v.  7. )  whereas  the  beast  of  the 
pit  makes  war  against  the  Lamb,  and  is  overcome;  because  he 
is  Lord  of  lords,  &c.,  and  they  that  are  with  him  are  called, 
and  chosen,  and  faithful,  V,  14.  A  third  is,  that  the  charac- 
teristic of  blasphemy,  which  was  witnessed  upon  the  heads  of 
the  beast  of  chap,  xiii.,  so  that  he  "opened  his  mouth  in  blas- 
phemy," (v.  6,)  is  now  transferred  to  the  whole  body,  which 
is  "full  of  names  of  blasphemy."  Chap.  xvii.  3.  These  are 
points  which  may  be  determined  quite  irrespective  of  the  ap- 
plication of  them  to  any  particular  power. 

We  may  proceed  another  step  with  certainty;  viz.  to  ascer- 
tain what  we  are  to  understand,  in  the  general, 'by  the  symbol 
of  the  beast.  It  sets  fourth  the  political  strength  and  resources 
of  some  mighty  empire:  the  proof  of  which  is  manifest.  For 
the  angel  says  to  John,  "Come  hither;  I  will  shew  thee  the 
judgment  of  the  great  whore  that  sitteth  upon  many  zoaters;" 
(chap.  xvii.  1,)  which  waters  are  explained,  in  verse  15,  to  be 
'^peoples,  multitudes,  natio?is,  and  tongues,''  which  are,  as  it  were, 
the  materiel  of  an  empire.  But  when  John  is  taken  into  the 
wilderness  to  see  this  whore,  she  is  represented,  not  as  sitting 
on  ma?iy  zuaiers,  hut  as  sitting  on  a  beast:  wherefore  the  beast  is 
only  another  symbol  for  the  "peoples,  multitudes,  nations,  and 
tongues." 

Here  also  I  would  observe,  that  the  remarkable  expression 
used  in  describing  this  beast, — viz.  "that  was,  and  is  not,  and 
yet  is,"  and  "which  shall  ascend," — seems  to  imply,  that  at 
the  time  of  the  judgment  described  in  chap.  xvii.  the  beast  had 
existed  in  that  form  of  principles  and  of  political  circumstances, 
in  regard  to  which  he  is  said  to  arise  out  of  the  sea;  that  then 
an  interval  comes  in  which,  as  an  organized  power  or  empire, 
he  may  be  said  ?iot  to  exist;  whilst  yet  the  political  dements, 
though  scattered,  are  actually  existing  at  the  time  when  this 
vision  commences,  and  are  only  awaiting  some  crisis  to  be  re- 
organized; and  this  reorganization  will  proceed  from  princi- 
ples or  circumstances  which  have  their  origin  from  the  bottom- 
less pit — whatsoever  may  be  intended  by  that  symbol. ■'■ 

*  It  is  very  important  to  observe  the  time  of  the  re-appearance  of  the  beast. 
The  text  of  Rev.  xvii.  8.  says,  "The  beast  that  thou  sawestw«s,  and  is  not,  and 
shall  ascend,  &c." — f^ikMi  uvai2:iivuv  is  about  to  ascend.  If  the  period  by  which 
the  time  is  to  be  adjusted  be  that  of  the  Apostle's  seeing  the  vision,  (as  some 
commentators  argue  in  regard  to  verse  10.)  then  we  not  only  must  conclude 
that  in  the  days  of  St.  John  five  kings  were  fallen,  but  that  the  beast  of  the  sea 
likewise  had  already  appeared  and  ceased  to  exist.  This  is  manifestly  not 
true.  The  only  other  period  from  which  the  time  can  be  dated  is  that  of  the 
judgment,  which  is  the  subject  of  the  vision.    So  that  when  the  judgment  com- 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    289 

(2.)  We  must  now  notice  the  power  in  combination  or 
alliance  with  the  beast.  This  is  described  in  chapter  xvii.  as 
a  harlot  sitting  upon  the  beast. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  though  John  is  specially  invited  to 
see  the  judgment  of  "the  great  7cAo?-e," — apparently  as  being 
some  character  who  has  been  previously  exhibited  under  that 
title, — yet  this,  the  time  of  her  judgment,  is  the  first  mention 
made  of  her  under  that  name;  and  we  must  therefore  seek  for 
the  power  here  designated  under  some  other  name  or  descrip- 
tion. A  comparison  of  Rev.  xiv.  8  and  19,  in  which  '^Great 
Babylon'^  is  mentioned,  will  immediately  evince,  that  the  Great 
City  and  the  Great  JVhore  are  one  and  identical.  Indeed,  verse 
IS  especially  declares — "And  the  zvoman  which  thou  sawest  is 
that  great  cily  which  reigneth  over  the  kings  of  the  earth." 
This  two-fold  sj^mbol  is  intended  to  set  forth  an  ecclesiastical 
power.  The  apostate  church,  or  great  city,  Babylon,  is  con- 
trasted in  the  Apocalypse  with  "the  holy  city,  New  Jerusa- 
lem;" and  the  harlot  is  contrasted  with  "the  bride,  the  Lamb's 
wife."  Moreover,  awhore  and  an  aduUress  are  familiar  images 
in  the  prophets  to  signify  apostate  Israel  and  Judah;  and  forni- 
cation and  adultery  are  expressions  frequently  used  to  signify 
apostacy  and  idolatry. 

But  there  is  likewise  reason  to  conclude  that  the  whore  and 
the  false  prophet  are  intimately  related.  For  not  only  is  the 
mention  of  the  false  prophet  dropped,  when  that  of  the  whore 
is  brought  before  us;  but  they  answer  exactly  in  certain  cha- 
racteristics. One  of  them  is  remarkable.  The  woman  is 
seated  on  the  beast,  which  is  emblematical  of  her  being  upheld 
by  the  power  and  wielding  the  resources  of  that  beast,  so  that 
his  heads  and  horns  are  either  vassal  or  tributary  states,  or 
powers  which  are  in  some  way  or  other  made  subservient  to 
her.  This  is  evident  fro/ii  its  being  declared,  chap,  xviii.  7, 
that  she  sits  as  a  queen;  and  in  chap.  xvii.  IS,  that  she  reigneth 
over  the  kings  of  the  earth.  Allowing,  therefore,  that  the 
woman  or  city  represents  a  church,  it  is  a  church  in  close  alli- 
ance with  the  state;  yea,  which  hath  altogether  usurped  and 
engrossed  the  powers  of  the  state.  But  the  two-horned  beast 
of  chap.  xiii.  likewise  "exercises  all  the  pon-er  of  the  first  beast 

mences,  and  not  till  then,  may  it  be  said,  "The  beast  u-as,  and  is  not,  and  is 
abaut  to  ascend  out  of  the  bottomless  pit." 

Some  modern  Expositors  have  argued  that  the  Roman  empire  cannot  be 
that  which  is  intended  by  the  fourth  lieast  of  Daniel,  because  it  ceased  to  exist 
during  the  wars  which  arose  out  of  the  French  Revolution,  the  Emperor  of 
Germany  having  indeed  formally  renounced  the  title.  This,  however,  in- 
stead of  being  a  circumstance  adverse  to  such  an  interpretation,  materially 
strengthens  h,''since  there  was  to  be  an  interval,  during  which  it  might  be  said 
of  the  fourth  empire — "it  was,  and  is  not.^' 


290  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

before  him,"  (v.  12);  and  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  two 
difl'erent  powers  can  exercise  a//  the  power  of  a  certain  empii-e, 
and  not  be  one  and  the  same.*  Moreover,  they  are  both  per- 
secutors; for  the  one  causes  all  that  will  not  worship  the  image 
of  the  beast  to  be  killed,  (chap.  xiii.  15);  and  the  other  is 
drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  &c.  (chap.  xvii.  6.) 

I  must  here  add  what  I  conceive  to  be  very  important  to  a 
right  understanding  of  the  vision  of  chap.  xvii.  or  "the. judg- 
ment of  the  great  whore."  I  consider  the  woman  to  be  re- 
presented at  the  opening  of  the  vision  as  seated  on  the  beast, 
only  to  shew  the  position  in  which  she  is  left  at  the  termina- 
tion of  the  reign  of  the  first  beast;  not  as  shewing  that  she 
continues  to  exercise  the  same  influence  during  the  career  of 
the  second  beast.  It  is  exhibited  for  the  purpose  of  identifica- 
tion, that  we  may  know  that  she  who  is  here  judged  is  the 
same  that  has  previously  reigned. 

(3.)  The  object  I  have  had  in  view,  in  leading  the  reader  to 
the  preceding  consideration  of  these  chapters  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, is  to  enable  him  clearly  to  discern,  that  supposing  popery, 
as  the  generality  of  commentators  have  concluded,  is  in  its 
combined  political  and  ecclesiastical  characters  represented  by 
the  beast  from  the  sea  and  the  beast  from  the  earth  of  chap, 
xiii.,  and  by  the  harlot  of  chap,  xvii.,  yet  that  there  is  another 
antichristian  power  in  ejxistence,  whose  career  is  subsequent  to 
the  reign  of  the  harlot;  and  the  first  of  whose  acts,  like  a  true 
wild  beast,  is  to  turn  and  rend  her,  with  whom  he  has  been, 
under  a  former  aspect,  in  alliance. — I  mean  the  beast  from  the 
bottomless  pit.  This  power  ma]j  he  popery  become  infidel, 
and  thus,  as  it  were,  arise  out  of  it;  but  it  has  nevertheless  its 
own  peculiar  aspect  or  form. 

Nothing  is  more  remarkable,  in  the  history  of  prophetical 
interpretation,  than  the  manner  in  which  most  commentators 

*  As  my  object  is  principally  to  give  information,  I  ought  not  to  pass  over  a 
view  which  is  taken  by  some,  who  conceive  that  the  designation  in  chap.  xiii. 
14 — "the  beast  which  had  a  wound  by  the  sword  and  did  live" — shews  that  the 
second  beast  arises  during  the  time  of  the  beast  from  the  bottomless  pit,  and 
not  during  the  time  of  the  beast  from  the  sea;  and  if  so,  that  the  period  in 
which  the  false  prophet  obtains  all  the  power  of  the  first  beast  is  subsequent  to 
the  destruction  of  the  harlot.  And  this  is  strengthened  by  the  fact,  that  the 
false  prophet  is  apparently  surviving  at  the  battle  of  Armageddon,  and  is 
taken  captive  with  the  beast,  and  cast  into  tiie  lake  of  fire.  Chap.  xix.  20.  At 
the  same  time,  this  latter  fact  is  reconcileable  according  to  the  former  view. 
For  though  I  take  the  false  prophet  and  harlot  to  be  one,  I  nevertheless  con- 
sider, because  diflerent  symbols  are  used,  that  ditierent  circumstances  of  the 
same  subject  are  designated.  Suppose  (for  example  and  by  way  of  argument 
only)  that  the  harlot  represents  the  Romish  church  as  regards  her  temporali- 
ties and  political  power,  and  the  false  prophet  symbolizes  the  ministers  and 
members  of  that  church:  she  may"  be  completely  stripped  of  her  temporalities, 
and  overthrown  as  an  ecclesiastical  establishment,  whilst  yet  a  bigotied  popery 
may  continue  to  exist,  as  we  know  is  the  case  in  Ireland  and  in  France. 


ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    291 

who  applied  the  Antichrist  to  the  papacy,  have  perverted  and 
misapplied  the  mention  of  the  ten  horns  of  the  beast,  or  ten  kings, 
mentioned  in  chapter  xvii.  The  n;eneral  interpretation  is,  that 
they  agree  and  give  their  power  to  the  beast  for  the  purpose 
of  maintaining  the  supremacy  and  dominion  of  the  harlot,  and 
that  they  are  the  kings  who  commit  fornication  with  her. 
But  the  contrary  is  most  plainly  and  explicitly  declared.  They 
receive  powers,  as  kings  only  for  ''one  hoiir^'  with  the  beast 
(which  is  apparently  the  short  space  during  which  the  judg- 
ment of  the  whore  takes  place,*)  for  the  express  purpose  of 
consuming  her;  for  they  are  said  to  hate  the  whore,  and  to 
make  her  desolate  and  naked,  and  to  eat  her  flesh,  and  burn 
her  with  fire.t  And  those  kings  who  have  committed  forni- 
cation with  her,  instead  of  being  the  same  as  those  who  now 
judge  her,  are  described  "as  bewailing  her  and  lamenting  for 
her,  when  they  see  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  s/a/?^//?^)-  afar  off 
for  the  fear  of  her  torment,^'  (ch.  xviii.  9,  10.)  and  are  evidently 
afraid  of  being  themselves  involved  in  her  judgn:icnt. 

It  is  not  therefore  of  consequence  to  my  argument  that  the 
reader  should  agree  with  me  respecting  the  identity  of  the 
harlot  with  the  two-horned  beast,  and  some  other  minor  par- 
ticulars. The  great  point  for  consideration,  and  in  regard  to 
which  both  sides  have  apparently  erred,  is,  that  soine  of  those 
(for  it  is  not  all)  who  apply  the  beast  of  Rev.  xiii.  to  the 
papacy,  have  lost  sight  of  the  fact,  that,  however  this  may  be 
correct,  a  strong  antichristian  power  arises  up,  toward  the  end, 
who  is  made  the  instrument  o(  judgment  on  the  harlot,  and 
who  makes  war  against  the  Lamb,  but  is  triumphantly  over- 
thrown; (see  chap.  xvii.  14.  and  xix.  11 — 21.)  And  that  some 
again  have,  on  the  other  hand,  looking  only  at  this  last  con- 
federacy, endeavoured  to  bend  to  it  and  concentrate  in  it  all 
that  is  antichristian;  overlooking  the  important  fact,  that  its 
first  actings  are  directed  against  son^.e  previoiisly  existing  Sinii- 

*  See  the  expression  one  hour,  in  verses  10,  17,  and  19,  of  chapter  xix. 

+  Mr.  Faber  is  guilt^^  of  garblins:  the  text  in  this  matter,  iu  a  most  extra- 
ordinary way.  In  order  to  make  out  that  they  support  the  papacy,  he  quotes 
it  thus — "The  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest  are  the  ten  kings,  which  have 
received  no  kingdom  as  yet,  but  in  one  hour  receive  power  coiijunclivdy  with 
the  wild  beast.  These  have  one  mind,  and  shall  give  their  power  and  strength 
unto  the  wild  beast.  These  shall  make  war  with  the  Lamb.  For  God  hath 
put  into  their  hearts  to  fulfil  his  will,  and  to  agree  and  to  give  their  kingdom 
unto  the  wild  beast,  until  the  word  of  God  shall  be  fulfilled.  And  ihe  woman 
whom  thou  sawest  is  that  great  city,  which  reigneth  over  the  kings  of  the 
earth.  Rev.  xvii.''  The  Mth,  15th,  and  IGth  verses,  in  which  it  is  said,  that 
the  ten  horns  shall  hate  the  whore,  and  burn  her,  are  omitted;  and  the  words 
^Hhe"  and  "conjundivelif  are  inserted,  though  not  in  the  text,  for  the  purpose 
of  bearing  out  the  assertion  that  these  kings  are  the  same  as  those  mentioned 
in  Daniel,  andlhat  they  all  conjunctively  "concurred  in  acknowledging  the 
spiritual  supremacy  of  ihe  Latin  Patriarch."    Vol.  i.  p.  118. 


292   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

christian  power,  which  has  already  run  its  race,  and  become 
ripe  for  judgment:  and  such  are  at  least  bound  to  shew  what 
tliat  power  is,  which  has  thus  been  previously  existing,  and 
which  has  both  ruled  over  and  corrupted  the  Roman  earth.* — 
Moreover,  it  appears  to  be  a  legitimate  conclusion,  (if  the 
Roman  empire  hath  now  disappeared,  and  that  it  is  the  fourth 
empire  of  Daniel  vii.)  that  the  "little  horn"  of  that  chapter 
must  likewise  have  appeared. — For  though  that  empire  may 
revive  (as  I  apprehend  it  will,)  yet  must  those  events  have 
transpired  which  are  foretold  as  to  occur  during  that  period  of 
its  existence  which  has  already  passed. 

3.  We  must  now  proceed  to  inquire  what  are  the  particular 
principles  by  which  this  last  form  of  Antichristianism  is  in- 
fluenced; and  these  I  take  to  be  infidel  and  republican. 
This  is  first  to  be  gathered  from  certain  peculiarities  and  cir- 
cumstantials to  be  carefully  noticed  in  these  visions. 

(L)  The  ivjldelily  is  plainly  indicated  by  the  direct  and 
open  warfare  with  "the  Lamb,"  which  is  made  by  those  kings 
who  constitute  the  political  and  military  strength  of  the  beast. 
The  beast  being  said  to  ascend  out  of  the  bottomless  jnt  is  also 
by  some  supposed  to  intimate,  that  it  has  its  origin  in  infidel 
principles;  and  though  this  is  not  conclusive,  yet  is  it  difficult 
to  give  a  more  consistent  explanation  of  the  symbol.  The 
increase  of  blasphemy  pgainst  God  is  also  remarkably  indi- 
cated by  the  beast  being  described  as  '■^ftill  of  7iames  of  blas- 
phe77iy."  The  first  beast  had  "upon  his  heads  the  name  of 
blasphemy;"  but  in  the  instance  of  the  beast  from  the  pit  the 
bodij  is  filled  with  blasphemy;  from  whicli  may  be  inferred 
that  instead  of  being  uttered  so  immediately  by  those  who 
constitute  the  headship,  it  has  spread  itself  downwards,  and 
pervaded  the  mass  of  the  population. 

The  republica?nsm  is  to  be  inferred,  First,  from  the  signifi- 
cant circumstance  already  named,  that  the  cronm,  which  was 
first  on  the  seven  heads  and  then  on  the  ten  horns,  has  now 

*  The  view  of  Bengelius  is  remarkable.  He  says — "The  three  following 
positions  are  agreeable  to  truth — 1st.  The  Beast  rising  out  of  the  sea  is  the 
Hildchrand  Pripacy;  and  Balnjlon  is  the  city  or  state  of  Rome,  and  conse- 
quently, in  and  along  wilh  that,  the  Church  of  Borne,  now  so  degenerated 
from  her  ancient  purity.  The  difference  between  them  is  great,  seeing  many 
Catholics  are  zealous  for  the  Church  of  Rome  and  its  plausible  pre-eminence, 
who  yet  bear  no  good  will  to  the  Papacy.  2ndly.  The  Bear  rising  out  of  the 
bottomless  pit,  is  that  singular  Antichrist  so  called — an  individual  under  Avhich 
the  Papal  power,  which  owes  its  growth  to  so  many  important  innovations, 
will  be  more  mischievous  than  ever.  .3rdly.  Not  only  against  those  who  wor- 
ship the  beast  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  biit  also  against  them  who  before  that 
time  worship  the  beast  out  of  the  sea,  is  that  threatening  pronounced  which 
is  the  greatest  in  all  the  scriptures,  and  which  shall  resound  powerfully  from 
the  mouth  of  the  third  angel.  Rev.  xiv.  9—11."  Robertson's  Translation. 
Pref.  xxix. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    293 

altogether  disappeared.  Secondly,  from  what  is  said  in  verses 
10  and  11:  "there  arc  seven  kings,  &c." — "and  the  beast  that 
was  and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth,  and  is  of  the  seven  and 
goeth  into  perdition."  For  if  these  kings  signify  (as  the 
generality  of  commentators  infer,)  seven  different  forms  of 
government,  or  seven  dillerent  headships,  it  shews  that  the 
beast — which  is  the  whole  mass  of  "peoples,  multitudes,  &c." 
— has  now  become  the  head;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  sovereignty 
is  now  in  the  people,  and  not  in  some  one  individual.*  The 
notion  of  the  beast  being  democratical  or  republican  is  farther 
sustained  by  his  being  represented  as  of  scarlet  colour,  scarlet 
being  an  emblem  of  sovereignty,  and  thus  again  pointing  out 
that  the  sovereignty  is  in  the  people.  And  it  is  farther  worthy 
of  remark,  that  the  ten  horns  or  kings  only  receive  power  as 
kings  one  hour  with  the  beast;  as  if  they  were  not  really  and 
strictly  kings.  Their  giving  their  kingdoms  to  the  beast,  and 
receiving  power  with  tlie  beast,  looks  as  if  they  will  not  be- 
come revolutionized  merely  as  distinct  kingdoms;  but  as  if 
they  will  combine  together  in  one  vast  republic,  so  that  the  em- 
pire will  again  rise  up  in  its  undivided  state. 

Another  circumstance  to  be  noted  likewise  is,  that  in  that 
"great  earthquake,  (or  convulsion,)  such  as  was  not  since  men 
were  upon  the  earth,  so  mighty  an  earthquake  and  so  great," 
not  only  is  the  great  city  Babylon  divided  thereby,  but  *'the 

*  I  have  said  "(/"  these  kings  signify,  &c."  because  I  am  not  quite  satisfied 
in  my  own  mind  with  the  interpretation  commonly  given.  The  ordinary 
view  is,  that  the  phrase  "and  there  are  seven  kings,"  is  intended  as  a  farther 
explanation  of  the  seven  heads  of  verse  9;  viz.  that  they  are  seven  mountains, 
and  also  seven  kings.  Bishop  Newton,  Daubuz,  and  many  others  conse- 
quently introduce  'Hkcif  into  the  translation — "and  they  are  seven  kings." 
The  original,  which  is  K:ti  li:t.(rtK(7<:  iTna  il<nv,  gives  no  direct  sanction  to  this 
reading,  though  it  will  bear  it.  There  is  also  some  little  obscurity  about  the 
mention  of  the  eighth  king  or  head,  which  is  greatly  increased  by  the  criti- 
cisms of  expositors.  Bengelius,»speaking  of  the  characteristics  of  a  true  ex- 
position of  the  Apocalypse  says— "It  must  give  a  reason  why  the  two  last  of 
the  seven  heads  of  the  Beast  are  called,  not  the  sixth  and  seventh,  but  the  one 
and  the  other  king."  (p.  271.)  I  confess  I  am  not  one  of  "seven  men  who  can 
render  a  reason"  in  this  instance,  neither  can  I  even  give  an  explanation  of 
what  he  means;  for  he  appears  to  create  a  difficulty  where  none  exists.  Mr. 
Faber  considers  the  eighth  king  to  be  Ike  same  as  the  seventh;  "for  the  wild 
beast  (he  says)  has  in  truth  no  more  than  seven  heads."  (vol.  iii.  p.  181.^  But 
this  is  to  read  "the  eighth  is  the  seventh,"  instead  of  "of  the  .seven;"  wnich  is 
to  pass  by  the  obvious  distinctions  of  scripture.  Farther,  I  am  not  fully  satis- 
fied with  the  usual  interpretation  which  makes  the  seven  mountains  and  kings, 
seven  forms  of  government;  seeing  that  this  is  not  the  meaning  of  these  symbols 
when  used  separately  in  scripture:  for  kings  and  mountains  hoih  signify  king- 
doms. (See  p.  137.)  I  agree,  however,  with  Mr.  Ilabershon  (if  they  are  to  be 
interpreted  of  forms  of  government)  that  the  eighth  being  "of  the  seven" 
will  in  this  case  signify  the  revival  of  one  of  the  previously  existing  forms  of 
government— e.  g.  a  dictatorship,  or  a  republic,  &c.  Whatsoever  is  repre- 
sented by  these  seven  kings,  they  are  seven  things  which  follow  each  other  in 
succession;  foi^it  is  said/"five  are  fallen,  and  one  is,  and  the  other  is  not  yet 
come." 

VOL.  II. — 25 


294   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

cities  of  the  nations  fell."  So  that  if  the  city  Babylon  repre- 
sent a  dominant  church,  which  being  united  to  the  state  has 
altogether  usurped  the  power  over  the  kingdoms  which  con- 
stitute the  beast,  "the  cities  of  the  nations"  (or  Gentiles)  will 
be  the  established  churches  of  all  other  kingdoms,  whether  in 
communion  with  her  or  not;  and  which  are,  by  the  effects  of 
this  mighty  revolution,  to  be  subverted  or  overthrown. 

(2.)  Though  what  has  been  stated  from  the  Apocalypse, 
concerning  the  infidelity  and  republicanism  of  the  last  form  of 
Antichrist,  appears  to  be  drawn  b}'  legitimate  inferences  from 
the  symbols  and  structure  thereof,  yet  should  1  be  slow  to 
receive  it  in  this  sense  were  it  not  that  the  whole  view  here 
taken  of  the  Antichrist  is  borne  out  b}'  other  portions  of  scrip- 
ture, a  i^ew  of  which  must  be  brought- forward. 

And  first  some  passages  shall  be  adduced  from  the  Psalms, 
which  allude  to  some  great  commotion  of  the  populace  of  the 
nations  in  the  crisis  of  the  last  times,  and  in  which  mention  is 
made  of  their  injidelity  and  their  use  of  the  tongue,  shewing 
that  the  beast  himself  becomes  "the  mouth  speaking  great 
things,"  and  uttering  blasphemies. 

Psalm  X.  refers  entirely  to  the  last  apostacy,  as  is  evident 
from  verse  1,  which  places  it  in  the  troublous  times;  and  from 
the  three  last  verses,  which  shew  the  Lord  in  the  sequel  to 
have  become  king  for  .ever  and  ever,  to  have  destroyed  the 
heathen,  and  to  have  judged  his  people.  The  mouth  of  the 
wicked,  spoken  of  herein,  is  said  to  be  full  of  cursing,  deceit, 
and  fraud;  under  their  tongue  is  mischief  and  vanity;  (v.  17.) 
and  they  contemn  God  and  say  in  their  heart,  God  will  not 
require  it,  (v.  11 — 16)  thus  betraying  that  they  disbelieve  the 
judgment.  Psalm  xii.  speaks  also  of  the  period  when  the  Lord 
will  arise  on  account  of  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  and  set  him 
in  safety  from  him  that  puffeth  at  him.  (v.  5.)  It  shews  that 
at  this  period  the  xilesl  men  will  be  exalted,  and  the  wicked 
shall  consequently  walk  on  every  side; — and  that  licentious- 
ness in  the  use  of  the  tongue  will  be  gloried  in;  for  they  shall 
say,  "with  our  tongue  will  ice  prevail,  our  lips  are  our  own, 
who  is  Lord  over  us?" — thus  also  insisting  on  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  and  despising  government.  Psalms  xiv.  and 
liii.  I  may  mention  together,  because  nearly  alike.  St.  Paul, 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans  quotes  some  sentences  from  them 
to  prove  the  general  apostasy  of  the  heart  of  man;  but  as  the 
former  of  these  Psalms  speaks  of  the  time  when  God  shall 
give  salvation  to  Isrnel  out  of  Zion  and  turn  the  captivity  of 
his  people;  and  the  latter,  of  the  time  when  the  wicked  shall 
encamp  against  God,  but  when  he  will  scatter  their  bones  and 
put  them  to  shame;  it  is  plain  that  they  chiefly  relate  to  this 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  295 

last  apostacy.  They  are  described,  then,  herein  as  of  an  in- 
fidel— yea,  even  of  an  alheislicul — character,  saying,  'There  is 
no  God,'  none  of  them  underslandinjr  or  seeking  after  God, 
their  nwulh  being  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness,  their  throat 
being  an  open  sepulchre,  with  tlieir  tongues  have  they  deceived, 
the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips.  Psalm  lii.  begins  with 
thus  rebuking  these:  "Why  boastest  thou  thyself  in  mischief, 
0  mighty  man!  The  goodness  of  God  endureth  continually;'* 
(intimating  that  the  providerice  of  God  has  been  denied.) — 
"Thy  tongue  deviseth  mischief,  like  a  sharp  razor  working 
deceitfully."  Then  at  verse  5  it  declares,  that  God  will  "root 
them  out  of  the  land  of  the  living;  and  that  the  righteous  shall 
see  it  and  laugh."  Psalm  Ixxv.  remarkably  coincides  with 
what  we  have  considered  in  the  Apocalypse.  We  have  the 
dissolution  of  the  frame  work  of  the  social  system,  and  of  all 
established  institutions  in  verse  3; — the  fools  dealing  foolishly 
and  lifting  up  their  horn  on  high,  supposing  that  promotion 
and  power  comes  from  them  instead  of  from  God,  in  ver.  4  to 
7; — the  treading  the  wine-press,  or  the  pouring  out  the  last  vial 
on  them,  and  ihe  frai/ing  of  their  ^^horns"  verses  S — 10  (see 
also  Zech.  i.  21;)  and  all  this  is  at  the  time  when  the  '^horns^' 
of  the  righteous  shall  be  exalted,  and  Messiah  shall  receive  the 
congregation  of  the  saints  to  himself,  (verses  2  and  10.)  Psalm 
xciv.  is  a  call  upon  God  to  put  an  end  to  this  tyranny;  declaring 
that  the  wiokprt  now  triumph,  that  they  uttor  ond  epeak  hard 
things,  and  boast  themselves.  Here  also  atheism  is  plainly 
charged  upon  them,  in  that  they  are  reminded,  that  he  that 
formed  the  ear  doth  himself  hear,  and  he  that  formed  the  eye 
doth  assuredly  see.  And  it  is  farther  intimated,  that  the  Lord 
shall  rise  up  against  them  and  bring  upon  them  their  own 
iniquity,  cutting  them  off  in  their  own  wickedness.  And 
finally  Psalm  cxx.  begins  with,  "What  shall  be  given  unto 
thee,  or  what  shall  be  done  unto  thee,  thou  false  tongi/e?'' — (an 
evident  prosopopaia  for  the  persons  using  the  tongue,)  showing 
how  instrumental  the  tongue  is  in  this  apostacy,  and  in  bring- 
ing on  the  war  of  Armageddon;  for  "they  are  for  war."  But 
there  is  reserved  for  them  ''sharp  arrows  of  the  mighty  with 
coals  of  juniper." 

I  must  next  turn  to  the  important  prophecy  of  our  Lord  in 
Matt.  xxiv.  and  its  parallel  in  Luke  xxi.  At  verse  21  of 
Matthew's  account  of  it  we  are  informed  of  a  great  tribula- 
tion, "such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  this 
time,  nor  ever  shall  be."  The  parallel  place  in  Luke's  ac- 
count (verses  23,  24)  shews  that  this  tril)uhition  began  with 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus  Vespasian,  and  continues 
through  the  whole  time  of  Gentile  domination,  or,  in  other 


296    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

words,  during  "the  times  of  the  Gentiles."  For  speaking  of 
Jerusalem  being  compassed  with  armies,  he  says,  "These  be 
the  days  of  vengeance,  that  all  things  which  are  written  may 
be  fulfilled,  &c.  For  there  shall  be  great  distress  in  the  land, 
and  wrath  upon  this  people;  and  they  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of 
the  sword,  and  shall  be  led  away  captive  into  all  nations:  and 
Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,  until  the 
times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled."*  That  which  however  is 
chiefly  important  to  observe  is,  that  the  passing  away  of  this 
tribulation  shall  likewise  prove  its  acme  to  the  Jews  (as  will 
appear  from  Dan.  xiii.  1)  and  likewise  a  time  of  unheard-of 
tribulation  to  the  Gentiles,  whose  times  are  then  run  out. 
Matthew  speaks  of  it  as  immediately  uflcr  the  tribulation  of 
those  days  (v.  29,)  and  Mark  has  it,  "But  in  those  days,  after 
that  tribulation."  The  character  of  it  is  thus  described  by 
the  Evangelists.  St.  Luke  says — "And  there  shall  be  signs 
in  the  sun  and  in  the  moon  and  in  the  stars."  Matthew  and 
Mark  inform  us  what  those  signs  are:  "the  stm  shall  be  dark- 
ened, and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  tlie  stars  shall 
fall  from  heaven."  To  this  St.  Luke  adds,  that  there  shall  be 
upon  the  earth  disti'ess  of  nations  with  perplexity;  the  sea  and 
the  reaves  roaring;  men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for 

*  I  would  here  take  the  opportunity  of  ohservins;,  lest  the  expression — "This 
gencroMon  s,\\z.\[  not  pass  avva.|  till  all  be  fulfilled" — should  prove  a  stumbling 
block  to  the  reader,  that  1  con.-iLlci  ilic  wuid  -yina  or  generation  to  have  re- 
spect to  the  Jevnsh  iialio7i;  that  being  the  mode  in  which  our  Lord  applies  the 
term,  calling  them  "a  iiw/j^Z  generation,"  "an  evil  generation,"  "an  adulteroiis 
generation,"  &c.  And  tlie  precise  same  phrase,  which  in  Matt.  xvii.  17  is 
translated  "a;?cn'e;-.sc  generation,  is  in  Phil.  ii.  5,  rendered  "a  perverse  na- 
tion.'^ I  conceive  our  Lord  to  mean  therefore,  that  the  Jews  would  continue 
a  people,  and  remain  ?i perverse  nation  also,  during  the  whole  "limes  of  the 
Gentiles;"  which  has  been  fulfilled  in  a  most  extraordinary  manner.  Dr. 
Adam  Clarke  has  some  excellent  remarks  in  his  Commentary  on  this  place, 
which  are  to  the  above  ef!ect.  He  says;  "This  gencrolion  shall  not  pass, 
i  jfi's*  uvTH,  this  race,  i.  e.  the  Jcv's  shall  not  cease  from  being  a  distinct  people 
till  all  the  counsels  of  God  relative  to  them  and  the  Gentiles  shall  he  fulfilled. 
— Some  translate  «  ytvi^  auryi,  this  generation,  meaning  the  persons  who  were 
then  living,  that  they  shonld  not  die  before  these  signs,  &:c.  took  place;  but 
though  this  was  true,  as  to  the  calamities  that  fell  upon  the  Jews,  and  the  de- 
struction of  their  government,  temple,  &c.;  yet  as  our  Lord  mentions  Jeru- 
salem continuing  to  be  under  the  power  of  the  Gentiles,  till  the  fulness  of  the 
Gentiles  should  come  in,  (i.  e.)  till  all  the  nations  of  the  world  should  receive 
the  gospel  of  Christ,  after  which  the  Jews  themselves  should  be  converted 
unto  God,  (Rom.  xi.  25,)  I  think  it  more  proper  not  to  restrain  its  meaning  to 
the  few  years  which  preceded  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem;  but  to  understand 
it  of  the  care  taken  by  divine  Providence  to  preserve  them  as  a  distinct  people, 
and  yet  to  keep  them  out  of  their  own  land  and  from  their  temple  service." 
Some,  however,  instead  of  >i  -yivitt  uwrn  with  the  aspirate,  read  «  yina  a.v^x  with- 
out the  asp\ra.\c,  when  the  rendering  of  the  verse  will  be,  ^^That  generation 
shall  not  pass  away,  &c."  meaning,  that  the  signs  which  constitute  the  tribu- 
lation of  those  days  should  all  take  place  during  the  lifetime  of  that  genera- 
tion of  men  who  shall  be  then  existing.  See  on  this  subject,  Investigator,  vol. 
i.  p.  5G,  and  vol.  iv.  p.  341.     Also  Abdiel's  Essays,  p.  130. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  297 

lookinjj;  after  those  things  which  are  coming  on  the  earth." 
Then  all  three  conclude,  "for  the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be 
shaken,"  I  have  already  had  an  opportunity  (see  pages  101, 
102)  of  shewing  that  the  sun  is,  in  prophetical  language,  a 
symbol  of  the  regal  power,  the  moon  of  ecclesiastical,  and  the 
stars  o(  the  aristocracy  or  nobles  both  in  church  and  state,  and 
(he  heavens  the  combination  of  them  all:  likewise  that  the  sea 
and  the  zvaves  are  symbols  which  signify  the  multitude  of  the 
people;  even  as  we  have  just  now  seen,  that  "the  icalers"  on 
which  the  whore  sitteth  are  peoples,  and  multitudes,  and  na- 
tions, and  tongues.*  We  have  therefore  set  forth  in  this  pro- 
phecy of  our  Lord,  the  darkening  (i.  e,  the  diminishing  or  ac- 
tual putting  out)  of  the  regal  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  and  the 
fall  of  the  aristocracy;  and  this  is  to  be  eflected  apparently  by 
the  insurrection  of  the  people  against  their  rulers, — "the  sea 
and  the  waves  ruaring,'' — that  is,  the  populace  being  in  a  state 
of  commotion  and  wrath,  and  thus  shaking  the  political  hea- 
vens. 

This  is  likewise  borne  out  by  the  Psalms:  as  for  example  in 
Psalm  xlvi.  we  have,  "God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very 
present  help  in  trouble:  therefore  will  we  not  fear,  though  the 
earth  be  removed,  and  though  the  mountains  (i.  e.  established 
and  settled  governments)  be  carried  into  the  midst  of  the  sea; 
though  the  zvalers  thereof  rour  and  be  troubled;  though  the 
7Jiounlalns  shake  W'lih  ihc  swelling  thereof. "  V.  1  —  3.  This 
in  the  sixth  verse  is  thus  explained:  "The  heathen  raged,  the 
kirigdunis  were  moved,  He  uttered  his  voice, — the  earth 
melted.'*  In  Psalm  Ixv.  7,  it  is  also  said  of  God,  that  "he 
stilleth  the  noise  of  the  seas,  the  7ioise  of  their  reaves,  and  (or  rather 
eve?i)  the  tumult  of  the  people."  Isa.  v,  29,  30,  foretels  that  "the 
Lord  will  lift  up  an  ensign  to  the  nations  from  far,  &c.  And 
in  that  day  they  shall  roar  against  them  like  the  roaring  of  the 
sea;  and  if  one  look  unto*  the  land,  behold  darkness  and  sorrow 
("on  earth  distress  with  perplexity")  and  the  light  is  darkened 
in  the  heavens  thereof.^'  Isa.  xvii.  12 — 14  is  strikingly  applica- 
ble to  this  point, — "woe  to  the  multitude  of  niafiy  people,  which 
make  a  noise  like  the  ?wise  of  the  seas;  and  to  the  rushing  of 
nations,  that  make  a  noise  like  the  rushing  of  mighti/  waters. 
The  nations  shall  rush  like  the  rushing  of  mighty  waters:  but 
God  shall  rebuke  them  and  they  shall  flee  afar  off,  and  shall 
be  chased  as  the  chaff  of  the  mountains  before  the  wind,  and 
like  a  rolling  thing  before  the  whirlwind.  And,  behold,  at 
evening  time,  trouble;  and  before  the  morning  he  is  not. 
This  is  the  portion  of  them  that  spoil  us,  and  the  lot  of  them 

•  See  this  subject  also  set  lonh  at  large  in  Abdiel's  Es.say.s,  p.  139. 
25* 


298  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

that  rob  us."  The  whole  falls  in  likewise  with  the  description 
of  that  awful  earthquake  in  Rev.  xi.  17 — 19,  which  shews  also 
that  the  events  spoken  of  usher  in  the  first  resurrection. — "We 
give  thee  thanks,  0  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  art,  and  wast, 
and  art  to  come;  because  thou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy  great 
power  and  hast  reigned.  And  the  natio7is  icere  angry;  and  thy 
wrath  is  come,  and  the  time  of  the  dead,  that  they  should  be 
judged,  and  that  thou  shouldst  give  reward  unto  thy  servants 
the  prophets,  and  to  the  saints,  and  them  that  fear  tliy  name 
both  small  and  great;  and  shouldcst  destroy  them  which  destroy 
the  earth.  And  the  temple  of  God  was  opened  in  heaven,  and 
there  was  seen  in  his  temple  the  ark  of  his  testament,  and  there 
were  lightnings,  and  voices,  and  thunderings,  and  an  earth- 
quake, and  great  hail.'' 

(3.)  It  needs  but  few  remarks  in  order  to  point  out  that 
"the  signs  of  the  times"  are  awfully  corresponding  with  the 
state  of  things  here  described.  Since  the  French  revolution 
we  have  seen  the  thrones  of  the  continental  kingdoms  shaken 
to  their  foundations,  and  a  republican  spirit  has  pervaded  the 
whole  mass  of  the  ten  kingdoms  of  the  papal  beast,  and  is  now 
ready  to  burst  forth,  like  an  eruption  of  volcanic  matter,  and 
overwhelm  them  all.  We  have  seen  France,  Belgium,  Italy, 
Poland,  and  other  places,  affected  by  the  revolutionary  spirit, 
the  chief  incitement  to  which  is  the  democratic  virus.  In 
Spain  the  struggle  is  chiefly  between  republicans  and  the  dis- 
ciples of  ultra-despotism  and  intolerance.  In  Portugal  Don 
Pedro  was  obliged  to  affect  the  liberal,  and  to  make  large  con- 
cessions to  the  popular  spirit,  before  he  had  any  prospect  of 
success.  We  already,  indeed,  see  in  that  country  and  in  Spain, 
what  has  been  previously  witnessed  in  France,  viz.  the  tem- 
poralities of  the  papal  ecclesiastical  establishments  taken  from 
them;  thus  shewing  that  the  ten  kingdoms  thereof  are  begin- 
ning to  make  the  whore  "desolate  and  naked,  and  to  eat  her 
flesh,  &c."  Rev.  xvii.  16.  Nor  is  royalty  alone  the  object 
of  present  attack:  the  nobles  of  every  rank  are  likewise  aimed 
at.  They  have  been  temporarily  extinguished  in  France,  and 
they  have  more  recently  been  despoiled  of  their  hereditary 
honours,  and  the  cry  of  '^Doim  with  the  Lords!"  in  our  country 
is  becoming  very  plain  and  unequivocal.  Still  more  clearly 
has  the  hoarse  croak  of  war  against  the  prelates,  and  against  all 
established  churches,  been  heard;  and  I  fear  it  will,  ere  long, 
be  as  distinctly  heard  assailing  all  that  appears  to  be  associated 
with  or  to  plead  for  the  authority  of  divine  Revelation. 
When  the  war  against  the  Lamb  commences  with  the  outworks 
of  religion,  the  attack  upon  the  citadel  itself  may  reasonably 
be  expected.      And   as  thus  Europe  is  threatened  with  the 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  299 

darkening  of  her  sun  and  moon,  and  the  putting  out  of  her 
stars,  so  do  we  clearly  see  that  instrumentality  in  motion, 
which  is  to  effect  their  temporary  destruction — "the  sea  and 
the  waves  roaring."  The  perilous  condition  of  rulers,  govern- 
ments and  nobles  arises  from  the  revolutionary  and  levelling 
spirit  which  exists  among  the  people;  which  democratic  spirit 
has  been  greatly  fed  and  strengthened  by  the  large  concessions 
which  are  continually  making  to  it.  For  numbers  of  men, 
whose  principles,  from  their  rank  and  station  in  society,  must 
be  opposed  to  it,  are  nevertheless  found  flattering  this  spirit 
and  crouching  to  it,  as  being  apparently  tlie  surest  path  to  po- 
litical power;  and  are  actually  promoting  their  own  destruc- 
tion by  means  of  a  spurious  and  infidel  liberalism. 

I  need  not  enlarge  by  pointing  out  the  increase  of  hifidelily, 
as  exhibited  in  its  public  features.  Complete  toleration  is 
now  given  to  publications  of  the  most  blaspliemous  and  atro- 
cious character;  and  tliose  who  pander  to  the  public  appetite 
find,  that  ihcij  are  the  most  successful,  who  are  the  most  bold 
to  "speak  against  dignities,"  and  to  revile  what  is  sacred  in 
religion.  Both  in  this  country  indeed,  and  on  the  continent, 
there  are  places  opened  in  the  larger  towns,  upon  the  Sabbath 
day,  in  which  infidelity  and  blasphemy  are  set  forth,  and  prin- 
ciples are  avowedly  broached  which  are  subversive  of  the 
present  order  of  things. 

(4.)  There  is  one  other  circumstance  connected  with  the 
character  and  actings  of  this  last  form  of  Antichrist,  as  revealed 
in  the  scriptures,  which  must  not  be  passed  over:  viz.  that  the 
last  apostacy,  out  of  which  he  will  be  matured,  will  be  greatly 
aided  and  brought  about  by  professors  of  Christianity  who  are 
heretics  and  schismatics.  I  feel  reluctant  to  enter  on  this  point, 
as  seeming  to  reflect  on  those  among  whom  I  believe  there  are 
yet  many  people  of  the  Lord.  But  I  must  not  allow  myself, 
in  a  work  which  professes  to  place  before  the  reader  the  ele- 
ments of  prophetical  interpretation,  to  neglect  a  point  of  so 
great  importance;  and  I  would  fain  hope  it  may  prove  of  use 
to  those  who  are  indeed  the  Lord's  people  among  them.  The 
character  of  Dissent  is,  alas!  within  these  few  years,  become 
fearfully  identified,  in  its  political  actings,  with  the  papal  beast 
on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  liberal-infidel  beast  on  the 
other;  and  if  the  scriptural  view  which  is  now  about  to  be 
brought  forward  should  be  the  means  of  startling  some,  and 
leading  them  to  get  up  from  about  the  tents  of  those  wicked 
men  and  touch  nothing  of  theirs,  lest  they  be  consumed  in  all 
their  sins,  I  shall  have  reason  to  be  thankful. 

The  first  portion  to  which  I  would  draw  attention  is  the 
second  epistle  of  Peter,  beginning  chapter  ii.  to  verses  3,  4  of 


300   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

chapter  iii.  In  this  passage,  false  prophets  are  spoken  of,  who 
are  privily  to  bring  in  damnable  heresies,  ^'denying  the  Lord 
that  bought  them."  Ch.  ii.  1.  They  are  described  as  moved 
by  covetousness,  (v.  3  and  14,)  in  which  respect  they  "follow 
the  way  of  Balaam,  who  loved  the  2cages  of  unrighteousness.'' 
Ver.  15.  They  are  farther  described  as  "walking  in  the  lust 
of  uncleanness,  and  despismg  government," — <'presumptous  are 
they,  self-willed,  they  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  dignities." 
Ver.  10.  They  speak  great  su-cUing  nords  of  vanity,  (ver.  18;) 
they  make  great  talk  about  liberty,  but  are  themselves  the  ser- 
vants of  corruption,  (ver.  19;)  and  especially  they  turn  to  scoff 
the  promise  of  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord.  Chap.  iii.  3, 4. 
That  they  are  to  appear  in  the  "last  days"  is  also  declared, 
chap.  iii.  3,  and  is  further  apparent  from  its  being  said,  chap, 
ii.  3,  that  Xhe'ir  judgment,  now  of  a  long  time,  "lingereth  not." 
Now  whoever  will  attentively  compare  the.  epistle  of  St. 
Jude  will  see,  that  he  speaks  of  precisely  the  same  persons.* 
And  he  declares  of  them,  "These  be  they  who  separate  them- 
selves, sensual,  having  not  the  Spirit."  Ver.  19.  So  that  as 
Peter  describes  them  to  be  heretics,  Jude  shews  them  to  be 
schismatics; — persons  who  refuse  to  submit  themselves  to  every 
ordinance  of  man  for  the  Lord's  sake,  (1  Peter  ii.  13.) — men 
who  prefer  their  own  self-willed  notions,  and  despise  the  au- 
thority of  the  Lord  that  bought  them.  Jude  likewise  describes 
them  as  "denying  the  only  Lord  God,  and  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;" — as  perishing  in  "the  gainsaying  of  Core,"  (or  Ko- 
rah,)  who  rebelled  against  the  ministers  of  the  Lord's  appoint- 

*  This  will  be  evident  from  the  following  particulars: — 


Pkter  says — 

1.  In  the  last  days  shall  come  secffers, 
(chap.  iii.  3.)  who  walk  after  the 
flesh,  in  the  lust  of  uncleanness, 
(chap.  ii.  10.) 

2.  They  follow  the  way  of  Balaam, 
&c.  ver.  l.'j. 

^>.  They  despise  government,  and  are 
not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  digni- 
ties:— whereas  angels  bring  not  rail- 
ing accu.sation.  (ver.  10,  11.) 

4.  They,  as  natural  brute  beasts,  speak 
evil  of  the  things  they  understand 
not.  (ver.  12,) 


fj.  They  are  wells  wiihinU  water, 
clouds  that  are  carried  with  a  tem- 
pest, to  whom  the  mist  of  darkness 
is  reserved  for  ever.  (ver.  17.) 

And  other  parallelisms  may  be  found,  leading  to  the  conclusion  that  Jude 
must  have  written  from  the  epistle  it.self  of  Peter. 


JuDK  says — 

1.  The  apostles  told  you  before,  that 
there  should  be  mockers  in  the  last 
time,  who  should  walk  after  iheir 
ungodly  lusts,  (ver.  17,  18.) 

2.  They  run  greedily  after  the  error 
of  Balaam,  (ver.  11.) 

3.  They  despise  dominion,  and  speak 
evil  of  dignities:  whereas  Michael 
the  archangel  durst  not  bring  a  rail- 
ing accusation  against  the  devil, 
(ver.  8,  9.) 

4.  They  speak  evil  of  those  things^ 
which  they  knownot,and  what  they 
know  naturally,  as  brute  beasts,  in 
those  things  "they  corrupt  them- 
selves, (ver.  10.) 

5.  They  are  clouds  without  water, 
cariied  about  of  winds;  to  whom  is 
reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness 
forever,  (ver.  12,  13.) 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   30I 

ment,  (Numbers  xvi.) — and  as  "raging  waves  of  the  sea,  foaming 
out  their  own  shaiTie;"  which,  taken  with  their  speaking  evil 
of  dignities,  conlirms  what  has  been  said  of  "//je  sea  and  the 
waves  roari?ig;^'  and  he  says  that  (hey  are  "mnrmiirers,  com- 
plaincrs,  walking  after  their  own  lusts;  and  their  mouth 
speaketh  great  swelling  words,  having  men's  persons  in  admi- 
ration because  of  advantage.  Ver.  13  and  16.  Jude  also 
brings  these  into  the  crisis  of  the  last  times,  b}'  farther  telling 
us,  that  the  Lord  conieth  with  myriads  of  his  saints,  to  exe- 
cute judgment  on  them.      Ver.  14,  15. 

If  we  turn  next  to  St.  John,  we  shall  find  allusion  to  what 
are  apparently  the  same  men,  and  tiicy  are  especially  by  him 
declared  to  be  limbs  or  members  of  the  Atilichnst.  In  his  first 
Epistle,  chap.  ii.  22,  he  says — "He  is  Antichrist  that  denieth 
the  Father  and  the  Son;"  which  is  evidently  akin  to  the  heresy 
of  those  who  de?n/  (as  Peter  has  it)  the  Lord  that  bought  them, 
and  (as  Jude  has  it)  who  de?)y  the  only  Lord  God,  and  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Again  he  declares  of  them — "As  ye  have  heard 
that  Antichrist  shall  come,  even  now  are  there  many  Anti- 
christs; whereby  we  know  that  it  is  the  last  time.  They  icent 
out  from  us,  but  tiiey  were  not  of  us;  for  if  they  had  been  of  us 
they  would  no  doubt  have  continued  with  us;  but  they  went 
out,  that  they  might  be  made  manifest,  that  they  were  not  all 
of  us."  Ver.  IS,  19.  Here  it  is  evident  that  they  are  sepa- 
ratists; they  are  also  declared  to  be  false  prophets,  deceivers,  and 
seducers,  in  like  manner  as  Peter  and  Jude  describe  them.  See 
1st  epi.  ii.  26;  iv.  1;  2nd  epi.  v.  7. 

St.  Paul  likewise  seems  to  speak  of  the  same  parties  in  2 
Tim.  iii.  1 — 5,  where  he  describes  the  sort  of  men  who  sliall 
come  in  the  last  days  and  produce  the  perilous  times  thereof. 
They  are  covetous,  proud,  blasphemers,  heady,  high-minded,  com- 
bined with  various  other.characteristics  described  by  him:  and 
especially  "having  a  form  of  godliness  and  denying  the  power 
thereof."  They  are  likened  to  Jannes  and  Jambres  who 
withstood  Moses,  (v.  S,)  as  "evil  men  and  seducers,  who  wax 
worse  and  worse,  deceiving  and  beitig  deceived,"  (v.  13;)  and 
he  is  admonished  that  the  lime  will  come  when  men  will  not 
endure  sound  doctrine;  "but  after  their  own  lusts  shall  they  heap 
to  themselves  teachers,  having  itching  ears;"  (iv.  3)  which  sen- 
tence is  evidently  pointed  at  the  animus  which  produces  dissent 
and  schism.* 

*  The  Reader  is  referred  to  an  exposition  at  length  of  this  passage  of  the 
epistle  to  Timothy,  contained  in  "Abdiel's  Essays,"  page '201;  and  to  an  admi- 
rable paper  in  the  "Investisator  of  Prophecy,"  vol.  i.  on  the  typical  character 
of  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  Dalhan,  nnd  Abiram.  Dr.  Hildrop  also  in  his  work 
on  Antichrist?  seems  to  think  that  Dissenters  will  be  the  chief  means  of  bring- 
ing in  the  Antichrist. 


302  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

The  special  duties  in  regard  to  these  men,  which  are  re- 
quired of  those  who  fear  God,  are  earnestly  to  contend  for  the 
faith,  (Jude  3,)  to  take  special  heed  unto  prophecy,  (2  Peter  i. 
19,  and  iii.  2)  to  continue  in  the  diligent  study  of  the  scrip- 
tures, (2  Tiin,  iii.  13 — 17,)  and  to  "turn  away"  from  those 
who  are  seduced  by  this  spirit  of  Antichrist;  (ibid.  iii.  5,  and 
2  John  10,)  yet  "of  some  to  have  compassion,  making  a  dif- 
ference; and  otiiers  to  save  with  fear,  pulling  them  out  of  the 
fire,  hating  even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh."  Jude 
22,23.* 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  TEN  kingdoms; THE    NAME    OF   THE   BEAST; THE    TWO 

witnesses; — the  prophetical  dates. 

There  are  a  fevv  important  features  connected  with  the 
prophecies  concerning  Antichrist,  as  contained  in  Daniel  and 
St.  John,  which  were  not  dwelt  upon  in  the  former  chapter, 
in  order  that  the  main  subject  of  inquiry  might  not  be  inter- 
rupted: tlicy  cannot  however  be  passed  over  wiiliout  a  more 
distinct  notice,  and  it  is  purposed  therefore  to  advert  to  them 
in  the  present  chapter.  The  first  to  which  the  attention  of  the 
reader  is  requested  is — 

THE  TEN  kingdoms. 

I.  The  fourth  beast  of  Daniel  vii.,  it  will  be  recollected,  is 
represented  to  the  prophet  as  having  ten  hortis,  (v.  7;)  which 
horns  are  explained  to  be  <'ten  kings  that  shall  arise,"  (v.  24;) 

*  I  have  not  taken  notice  of  the  particulars  in  Daniel  vii.  viii.  and  xi.  and 
other  prophecies  brought  forward  in  the  previous  sections  of  this  chapter  which 
may  be  considered  to  apply  specially,  or  else  in  a  secondary  sense,  to  infidel 
antichristianism.  For  as  particular  features  of  the  prophecies  seem  more 
especially  to  suit  popery,  or  Mahometanism,  though  a  sort  of  family  likeness 
may  be  traced  in  all;  so  is  it  in  regard  to  the  infidel  Antichrist;  some  portions 
appear  intended  for  it  more  especially,  though  a  certain  similitude  will  doubt- 
less be  found  in  many  others.  When,  e.  g.  at  the  French  revolution,  the 
Christian  Era  was  abolished,  and  weeks  were  changed  to  Decades,  we  seem 
to  see  the  horn  that  thinks  to  change  times  and  laws.  At  that  time  also  we 
especially  see  "a  moulh  opened  in  blasphemy,"  and  the  majesiy  of  the  people 
exalted  '-above  every  thing  that  is  called  God  and  that  is  worshipped,"  as  is 
stated  of  the  Man  of  Sin.  And  various  similar  points  of  resemblance  may  no 
doubt  be  traced. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  303 

and  from  a  comparison  of  verses  17  and  23  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  word  king  is  used  synonymously  for  kingdom.  The  beast 
of  Rev.  xiii.  is  likewise  represented  as  having  seven  heads  and 
ten  horns,  and  upon  his  horns  ten  crorcns,  (v.  1:)  on  which 
beast,  with  some  alterations  in  his  aspect,  the  harlot,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  chap.  xvii.  is  represented  sitting  "as  a  queen;" 
and  in  this  chapter  again,  the  ten  horns  are  explained  to  be  ten 
kings  who  had  received  no  kingdom  as  yet.     V.  12. 

1.  From  these  premises  the  early  Christian  fathers  concluded, 
that,  as  the  Roman  empire  in  its  entire  slate  corresponded  to 
the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel,  so  it  was  to  be  broken  up  into  ten 
different  states;  and  (what  is  of  still  greater  importance  to 
observe,)  they  concluded,  that,  however  the  mystery  of  ini- 
quity were  already  working,  yet  that  Antichrist  would  not  be 
manifested  to  the  church  in  those  decided  characteristics 
whereby  he  should  be  known,  until  after  this  partition  of  the 
empire.  They  concluded  indeed,  tiiat,  as  Antichrist  was  him- 
self to  obtain  the  dominion  and  exalt  himself  above  all  that  is 
called  God  and  that  is  worshipped,  so  the  withholding  cause 
mentioned  in  2  Thess.  ii.  6,  which  prevented  the  man  of  sin 
from  being  revealed,  was  no  other  than  the  continuance  of  the 
Roman  empire  in  its  integrity. 

As  regards  the  expected  division  of  the  empire  into  ten 
kingdoms,  Jerome,  upon  Daniel  vii.,  declares  it  to  have  been 
the  opinion  of  all  ecclesiastical  writers  before  his  time.  And 
abundant  testimony  may  be  adduced,  that  they  likewise  con- 
sidered the  Empire  in  its  entire  state,  (or,  in  other  words,  the 
supreme  power  of  the  emperors,)  to  have  been  ihal  u-hich  uilh- 
held.  Thus  Tertullian,  asking  this  question,  Who  is  it  that 
'Hellclh?''  answers — "Who  but  the  Roman  State?  the  division 
of  which,  when  it  is  scattered  among  ten  kings,  shall  bring  in 
Antichrist,  and  then  shaH  that  wicked  one  be  revealed."  De 
Resur.  Carnis,  Cap.  xxiv.  Chrysostom,  in  his  fourth  Homily 
on  2  Thess.  ii.  says  of  the  same  words — ^'Thul  is  ihe  Roman 
Empire:  when  that  is  taken  away,  then  /?e(the  antichrist)  shall 
come."  Many  others  might  be  instanced;  but  I  come  down 
again  to  the  times  of  Jerome,  because  it  was  in  the  latter  period 
of  his  life*  that  those  irruptions  of  the  barbarian  nations  into 
the  Roman  Empire  took  place,  which  finally  terminated  in  its 
entire  conquest  and  dismemberment.  And  that  he  held  the 
opinion  just  stated,  and  considered  that  he  now  beheld  that 
very  event  come  to  pass  which  was  to  bring  in  the  manifesta- 
tion of  Antichrist,  is  evident  from  the  following  passage  in  his 
epistle  to  Gcrontia,  written  when  Rome  was  taken  by  Alaric: 
"He  who  hindered  is  taken  out  of  the  way,  and  we  consider 
♦  He  died  about  a.  d.  420. 


304  ELEMENTS  OF  FROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

not  that  antichrist  is  at  hand,  whom  the  Lord  shall  consume 
with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth."*  Certainly  it  is  from  the  period 
of  the  bi  caking  up  of  the  empire  by  the  Gothic  and  Vandalic 
powers  that  we  may  trace  the  great  advance  of  Papal  usurpa- 
tions, and  the  recognition  and  establishment  of  some  of  the 
most  marked  features  of  it  by  authoritative  decrees. 

2.  With  regard  to  the  number  of  kingdoms  into  which  the 
empire  of  the  Beast  was  to  be  divided,  some  interpreters  con- 
sider liiat  the  number  tefi  is  to  be  understood  in  a  figurative  or 
tropical  sense,  as  signifying  an  indefinite  or  large  number; 
which  meaning  it  undoubtedly  has  in  some  places  of  scripture; 
e.  g.  Gen.  xxxi.  7.  Numbers  xiv.  22.  Neh.  iv.  12.  Job  xix.  3; 
Zech.  viii.  23.  Such  was  the  view  taken  by  Dr.  W.  Fulke, 
in  1557,  as  may  be  seen  in  his  exposition  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment on  2  Thess.  ii.  6;  and  Mr.  Cuninghame,  in  the  present 
day,  lays  it  down  as  the  chief  principle  which  he  regards,  and 
all  that  can  be  reasonably  required  of  an  Expositor  to  prove; 
though  he  proceeds  nevertheless  to  shew,  that  these  kingdoms 
have  actually  been  about  ten  in  number.  The  principal  objec- 
tion to  viewing  the  number /ew  in  this  instance,  as  an  indefinite 
but  large  number,  is  the  circumstance  that  such  a  mode  of  in- 
terpretation violates  the  principle  of  homogeneity.  For  if  the 
ten  horns  are  to  be  explained  on  this  principle,  why  should 
there  not  be  a  mystical  interpretation  given  to  the  number 
seven  in  the  seven  heads  of  the  beast?  Besides  which,  the  fact 
that  the  little  horn,  which  arises  in  the  midst  of  the  ten,  plucks 
up  three  of  them,  seems  clearly  to  indicate  that  the  numeral 
ten  is  not  to  be  understood  in  a  mystical,  but  in  a  literal  sense. 

3.  Most  interpreters,  therefore,  look  for  ten  kingdoms 
exactly,  and  seek  them  in  the  western  empire,  which  they 
consider  to  be  more  properly  Rome,  but  some  discrepancy 
exists  in  the  lists  which  they  have  brought  forward,  arising 
principally  from  their  fixing  on  different  periods  at  which  the 
enumeration  ought  to  be  dated.  Mede  and  Whiston,  for  ex- 
ample, date  the  final  division  of  the  empire  from  a.  d.  456, 
Dr.  Allix  places  it  in  a.  d.  4S6,  Mr.  Faber  fixes  on  a.  d.  568,t 
and  Bishop  Newton  dates  from  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century. J     The  principle  of  territorial  division,  which  supposes 

*  Sec  more  to  tliis  effect  in  Mede  and  Bishop  Newton. 

t  Ml.  P'aher  fixes  on  ihi.s  date  air^  being  that  of  the  establishment  of  the  last 
of  the  ten  Gothic  horns;  the  Lombards  having  then  settled  themselves  in 
Pannonia.  But  Mr.  Cuninghame,  in  his  "Critical  Examination  of  Faber," 
&c.  KuccLSsfully  shews  that  he  errs  in  this  respect  by  42  years,  and  that  the 
true  date  of  their  establishment  is  a.  d.  526. 

t  The  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitiand  lays  considerable  stress  upon  this  circumstance, 
as  an  argument  against  the  application  of  the  prophecy  to  those  kingdoms 
into  which  the  western  empire  was  divided  at  the  period  which  has  been 
named;  and  observes: — "Let  the  reader  only  look  at  the  various  lists  which 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  395 

the  ten  kingdoms,  as  at  first  divided,  to  continue  througli  all 
their  political  mutations,  appears  to  be  the  correct  mode  of 
proceeding  in  this  matter.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  advocates  this 
principle  in  reference  to  the  four  6t'«A/i' of  Daniel  vii.,  (Obs.  on 
Dan.  p.  13.)  on  tlic  ground  that  the  lives  of  the  three  first 
beasts  are  said  to  be  prolonged  for  a  season  and  time,  (Dan. 
vii,  12.)  after  their  dommioji  is  taken  away.  And  so  likewise 
the  gold,  the  silver,  and  the  brass,  in  the  image  of  Dan.  ii.  are 
said  to  be  broken  together  with  tlie  iron  and  clay:  (v.  35.) 
therefore  they  must  be  viewed  as  having  still  existed  accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  territorial  boundaries  of  those  empires.* 
Bishop  Newton  and  Bishop  Hard  both  follow  this  principle, 
in  their  interpretation  of  the  image  and  the  four  beasts;  and 
Mr.  Frere,  who  likewise  adopts  it,  extends  its  application  to 
the  ten  kingdoms.!  (Comb.  View,  p.  160.)    On  no  other  prin- 


have  been  made  by  learned  men,  and  I  think  he  will  have  no  doubt,  that  if 
the  number  mentioned  by  Daniel  had  been  nine  or  eleven,  the  right  number 
would  have  been  found  among  those  petty  kingdoms,  whose  unsettled  state 
renders  it  so  easy  to  enumerate  them  variously.''  Enquiry,  &c.  p.  41.  The 
same  argument  might  be  applied  with  equal  force  to  the  tribes  of  Israel, 
which  yet  are  always  spoken  of  as  twelve,  notwithstanding  their  temporary 
changes.  Sometimes  we  find,  in  the  holy  scriptures,  in  the  enumeration  of 
these  tribes,  Joseph  divided  into  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and  thus  made  ttuo 
of;  sometimes  Dan  is  omitted,  and  sometimes  Levi;  so  that  in  </a5  instance  the 
lists  do  not  agree,  and  had  the  number  been  eleven  or  tkirteen  it  might  have 
been  found.  There  are  great  discrepancies  also  among  interpreters  in  the 
enumeration  of  the  four  kingdoms  which  comprised  the  four  horns  which 
arose  when  the  great  horn  of  the  goat  was  broken,  Dan.  viii.  8.  Certainly  a 
fifth  might,  in  this  instance,  be  found,  were  it  needful;  and  yet  we  know  that 
the  goat  was  Greece,  from  the  text  itself;  and  that  the  partition  must  be  dated 
from  the  death  of  Alexander.  This  objection  therefore  has  no  weight  in  re- 
ference to  the  ten  kingdoms. 

*  It  may  be  well  here  to  make  another  obseryalion  respecting  the  image  of 
Daniel  ii.  Some  writers  consider  the  ^'toes"  of  that  image  to  symbolize  the 
same  ten  kingdoms  as  the  ten  horns  of  the  fourth  beast  of  chap,  vii;  to  which 
it  is  objected,  that  in  such  case  the  ten  kingdoms  should  be  divided  among 
the  eastern  and  western  empires*  supposed  to  besymbolized  by  the  two  legs, 
and  not  that  the  ten  toes  shoiild  be  all  on  one  foot.  It  appears,  however,  ques- 
tionable to  me,  whether  the  Holy  Spirit  has  here  intended  us  to  lobk  for  an 
enumeration  oi  ten  kingdoms  in  the  toes,  any  more  than  for  ten  kingdoms  in 
the  second  empire,  symbolized  by  the  breast  and  arms  of  silver,  because  those 
arms  must  have  had  <e?i //i^ers  appended  to  them.  The  numeral  ten  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  vision,  but'only  "the  toes"  of  the  image  indefinitely;  and  the 
object  of  their  mention  appears  to  be  merely  to  shew  to  the  church  tiie  charac- 
ter of  the  fourth  empire  in  the  last  days  of  its  existence,  just  before  it  is  pounded 
to  pieces  by  the  little  stone;  viz.  that  though  there  will  remain  the  strength  of 
trojj.  in  it,  yet  that  there  will  likewise  be  found  a  principle  of  7/»crtZue.ss  and 
disunion  in  the  kingdoms  which  comprise  it,  so  that  though  they  may  combine 
together  for  certain  political  ends,  they  cannot  cordially  cohere. 

t  Mr.  Frere  makes  the  following  remark  relative  to  the  four  beasts,  as  an 
additional  argument  for  applying  the  principle  of  territorial  division,  viz. 
"that  because  the  kingdom  of  Babylon  formed  the  first  beast,  and  Asia  Minor 
with  Upper  Asia  formed  together  part  of  the  third  beast,  therefore  these  three 
provinces  are  <tfcidedly  excluded  from  the  second  beast,  and  are  represented  as 
VOL.  11.-26 


306   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION, 

ciple  can  the  prophecy  be  successfully  applied  to  Papal  times. 
For  the  kingdom  of  the  Heruli,  in  Italy,  which  has  been  num- 
bered among  the  te7i,  was  overthrown  within  twenty  years 
after  its  establishment.  That  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain  is  con- 
sidered to  have  ended  in  714:  the  kingdom  of  the  Angles,  in 
Britain,  was  broken  by  the  Danish  and  Norman  conquests;* 
and  indeed  tlie  Franks  or  French  may  be  considered  as  the 
only  people  of  Europe  whose  succession  from  the  original 
conquerors  of  the  western  empire  has  not  been  interrupted. 

4.  In  the  mean  while,  however  the  application  of  this  parti- 
tion of  the  empire  into  ten  kingdoms  may  seem  to  want 
exactness,  as  applied  to  the  condition  of  papal  Rome  at  some 
particular  periods,  there  are  two  or  three  remarkable  facts 
which  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  by  the  student  of  prophecy, 
and  which  are  far  more  difficult  to  account  for,  if  we  reject 
this  application,  than  are  the  discrepancies  already  noticed. 
First,  there  did  occur,  just  previous  to  or  about  the  period 
from  which  the  most  respectable  expositors  have  dated  the 
revelation  of  the  papal  Antichrist,  a  disruption  of  the  Roman 
empire,  which  was  divided  into  several  petty  kingdoms. 
Secondly,  the  number  of  these  kingdoms  has  been  enumerated 
at  ten,  in  the  general,  by  writers  whose  prejudices  would  na- 
turally have  led  them  to  dispute  the  fact,  and  by  writers  also 
who  have  had  no  eye  to  prophecy.  x\mong  the  former  class 
may  be  named  the  Roman  Catholic  expositors;  as  Calmet,  who 
on  Rev.  xiii.  1,  admits  that  the  Roman  empire  was  by  the  in- 
cursions of  the  northern  nations  dismembered  into  ten  king- 
doms: and  he  refers  to  the  testimony  on  this  point  of  Beren- 
gaud,   Bossuet,   and   Du   Pin.     Bishop  Walmesley   likewise, 


three  ribs  in  the  mouth  of  the  bear,  or  flesh  that  he  had  seized  to  devour;  the 
representation  pointing  out,  that  these  three  provinces  would  be  overrun  and 
subdued  by  the  Modes  and  Persians."     Page  138. 

*  A  consideration  of  considerable  interest  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  country 
is,  whether  Britain  can  witii  propriety  be  at  all  considered  as  one  of  the  ten 
horns  of  the  western  Roman  empire.  A  series  of  prophetical  papers,  evidently 
written  by  an  able  hand,  appeared  in  the  Christian  Guardian  for  1830,  the 
author  of  which  contends  for  its  exclusion  principally  on  the  ground  that 
England  was  only  subdued  by  the  Romans  a.  d.  78,  and  was  abandoned  by  them 
about  the  time  of  Thcodosius,  and  that  the  western  or  proper  Roman  empire, 
as  left  by  Theodosius  to  Hoiiorius,  never  exercised  any  dominion  in  the 
island.  Page  135.  It  is  surprising  that  Mr.  Faber  did  not  likewise  exclude 
Britain;  for  he  says — "In  regard  to  the  Anglo  Saxon  horn,  I  conceive,  on 
every  just  principle  of  consistency,  that  we  have  no  prophetic  concern  save 
with  Hengist's  original  kingdom  of  Kent.  The  common  idea,  that  the  seven 
kingdoms  of  the  Heptarchy  constitute  jointly  the  sini;le  Anglo  Saxon  horn, 
strikes  upon  my  own  apprehensions  as  intolerable."  Sac.  Cal.  vol.  i.  p.  152. 
And  yet  the  awkwardness  does  not  seem  to  occur  to  Mr.  Faber,  that  on  this 
view,  in  all  the  transactions  of  this  country  with  the  papacy  as  a  horn  of  the 
Papal  beast,  the  guilt  was  incurred,  and  the  judgment  was  con.scquently  pro- 
voked, on  the  inhabitants  ol  Kent  only,  and  not  on  Britain  in  general. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  LXTERPRETATION.    397 

(the  Roman  Catliolic  author  of  a  modern  treatise  on  Prophecy 
under  the  assumed  name  of  Sio;nor  Pastorini,)  admits  that  the 
ten  horns  on  the  head  of  the  Roman  heast  is  the  dividing  of 
the  western  empire  by  the  ten  barbarous  nations  that  invaded 
it  in  the  fifth  century.  P.  132.  Among  the  latter  class  is 
Procopius,  (largely  quoted  from  by  Bishop  Walmesley,  and 
whom  Dr.  Worthington  calls  '*half  christian,  half  heathen;") 
JNIachiavel,  who  was  also  a  papist,  (Hist.  Hor.  Lib.  i.)  and 
Gibbon,  who  will  not  be  suspected  of  leaning  to  the  protestant 
system  of  interpretation.  The  third  iact  is  that  three  of  these 
kingdoms  became  the  immediate  temporal  possessions  or  pa- 
trimony of  the  popes;  even  as  it  was  foretold  in  Daniel,  that 
before  the  little  horn  three  of  the  ten  should  be  plucked  up 
by  the  roots. 

5.  The  three  horns  thus  plucked  up  are  with  tolerable  una- 
nimity declared  to  be  Rome,  Lombardy,  and  Ravenna,  which 
have  now  formed  the  papal  territories  for  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years;  though  some  few  interpreters  consider  these  now 
as  forming  only  one  kingdom,  or  horn,  and  look  out  for  nine 
others  in  addition.  The  following  table,  which  is  taken  from 
an  interesting  and  forcible  "Treatise  on  the  1260  days  of 
Daniel  and  St.  John,  &c."  by  the  Rev.  W.  Digby,  will  shew 
how  far  the  more  eminent  writers  concur  in  regard  to  the  re- 
maining seven.  The  dash  intimates  the  instances  in  which 
they  are  not  unanimous. — 


i 

tj 

s 

i 

1 

Names 
of  the 

1 

3 

0 

^ 
^ 

.2i 

Total. 

3 

Kingdoms. 

^ 

•^ 

g 

1 

1 

Si 

fo 

1 

Vandals      .    . 

1 



1 

.  () 

2 

Suevi      .     .     . 

1 

1 

7 

3 

Alans      .     .    . 

1 

1 

0 

4 

Burgundians   . 

1 

7 

5    Franks    .     .    . 

1 

7 

6  jVisigoths    .     . 

7  lAnglo-Saxons 

1 

7 

1 

1 

1 

7 

To  the  above  may  be  added,  with  as  little  discrepancy  as  to 
specific  designation,  only  substituting  in  some  instances  the 
modern  names  of  those  kingdoms,  the  lists  presented  by  Bi- 
shop Chandler,  Daubuz,  Dr.  Allix,  and  Messrs.  Cuninghame, 
Frere,  and  Habershon.* 


*  I  must  not  pass  over  the  enumeration  of  those  who  have  looked  for  the 
ten  kingdoms  in  both  legs  of  the  image.    In  I^IO,  Eberard,  bishop  of  Saltz- 


308    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


THE  NAME  AND  NUMBER  OP  THE  BEAST. 

II.  The  next  particular  which  comes  before  us  is,  The  name 
and  number  of  the  heast,  mentioned  in  Rev.  xiii.  18;  and  which 
has  perhaps  been  more  discussed  and  controverted,  and  still 
remains  in  greater  uncertainty,  than  any  other  prophetical 
problem. 

1.  The  first  point  necessary  to  be  determined  is,  to  which 
of  the  hvo  beasts  in  tliat  chapter  does  the  name  belong,  the  len- 
horned  beast,  or  the  /zco-horned  beast.  Great  names  are  arrayed 
on  both  sides  the  question;*  but  the  following  arguments, 
the  substance  of  which  may  be  found  in  Dr.  A.  Clarke's  Com- 
mentary on  this  place,  appear  to  have  some  cogency.  First, 
that  in  Rev.  xv.  2,  mention  is  made  of  them  that  had  gotten 
the  victory  over  the  beast,  and  over  his  image,  and  over  the 
7mmber  of  his  name:  and  which  is  supposed  to  indicate  two 
distinct  anti-christian  powers, — viz.  the  beast,  and  also  the 
number  of  his  name,  or  the  second  beast.  Secondlij,  from  a 
comparison  of  this  latter  passage  with  Rev.  xix.  20.  In  the 
latter  the  words  are-:-<'And  the  beast  was  taken,  and  with 
him  the  false  prophet,  that  wrought  miracles  before  him,  with 
whicli  he  deceived  them  that  received  the  mark  of  the  beast, 
and  them  that  worship  his  image."  Here  nothing  is  said  of 
the  number  of  his  name,  so  particularly  mentioned  in  chap.  xv. 
2,  whilst  in  that  chapter  nothing  is  mentioned  oi  the  false  pro- 
phet; the  reason  of  which  is  assumed  to  be,  that  what  is  termed 
in  one  passage  the  mimber  of  his  name,  is  in  its  parallel  one 
called  the  false  prophet;  and  consequently  that  it  is  this  beast 
which  is  numbered. +  Thirdly,  "the  number  of  the  beast'' 
being  in  chap.  xiii.  18.  explained  to  be  "the  number  of  a 
ma?},"  is  thought  to   add   the  last  degree  of  certainty  to  the 

burg,  in  the  diet  at  Ralisbon  said. — "Reges  decern  pariter  exisUint,  qui  orbem 
terra,  Romatnim  quondam  imperiiim,  non  ad  regendum,  sed  ad  consumen- 
dum  partiti  sunt.  Decern  conma,  id  quod  D'Aurelio  Augu.stino  incredibile 
visum  est,— Turci,  Grscci,  jEgypti,  Afri,  Hispani,  Galli,  Angli,  Gerraani, 
Siculi,  Itali,— Romanas  provincias  possident,  &c."  (apud  Aventin  ex  Catalog. 
Test.  Lib.  xvi.)  And  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the  following  have  been 
numbered,  viz. — 1  Italy  and  Germany,  2  France,  3  Spain,  4  England  and  Ire- 
land, 5  Scotland,  G  Hungary,  7  Poland  and  Lithuania,  8  Denmark  with  Swe- 
den and  Norway, !)  Portugal,  10  the  Greek  empire  devolved  on  the  Ottomans. 

*  Lord  Napier,  Winston,  Bp.  Newton,  Faber,  &c.  assign  it  to  ihe  firs/  beast: 
Dr.  H.  More,  Pyle,  Kershaw,  Galloway,  Bichcno,  Dr.  Hales,  &c.  refer  it  to 
the  second.  Dr.'^.  Gill,  Reader,  and  Clarke  think  it  belongs  to  bot/i.—See  Dr. 
A.  Clarke's  Comm.  in  toco. 

t  This  argument  is  not  altogether  conclusive:  for  the  false  prophet  is  said 
(Rev.  xix.  20)  by  his  miracles  to  deceive  them  that  had  received  the  mark  of 
/hi:  /icas/,  meaning  evidenUy  of  the  Jirs/  beast;  and  it  is  probable,  as  will  pre- 
sently be  shown,  that  this  warA  is  no  other  than  the  identical  nuvihcr  oi  the 
beast,  seeing  that  the  nuviber  itself  is  not  mentioned. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    399 

matter:  because  the  ten-horned  beast  is  never  called,  or  spoken 
of,  other  than  as  a  beast;  whereas  the  two-horned  beast  is 
styled  the  false  prophet,  which  gives  to  it  the  character  of  a 
man. 

2.  The  next  point  is,  what  are  we  to  understand  by  the 
name  and  number  of  the  name  of  the  beast.  Some  interpreters 
have  treated  this  matter  as  if  the  name  were  one  thing,  and  the 
number  altogether  different  and  distinct  from  it.  Learned 
commentators  however  (as  Grotius,  Cressener,  Daubuz,  New- 
ton, Clarke,  and  oihers,)  have  abundantly  shewn,  that  in  St. 
John's  time  it  was  customary  for  every  heathen  god  to  have  a 
particular  fraternity  or  society  belonging  to  him;  and  the  mode 
of  admitting  into  these  societies  was,  by  giving  them  some 
hieroglyphic  mark  in  their  hands  or  foreheads,  which  was 
rendered  sacred  to  that  particular  god:  as,  for  example,  an 
ivy-leaf  io  shew  that  they  belonged  to  Bacchus;  or,  by  mark- 
ing them  with  the  letters  of  the  name  of  that  god,  which  were 
commonly  transposed;  or  with  the  numeral  cyphers  which  the 
letters  of  their  name  numbered.  Thus  the  name  of  Jupiter,  as 
'H  ao;^-*,,  or  the  beginning  of  things,  was  signified  by  the  number 
717,  &c.;  the  name  of  the  sun,  as  m;,  good,  by  the  number  60S.* 
And  Barnabas  in  his  Epistle  (cap.  vii.)  says,  the  Christians 
first  wrote  the  name  of  Jesus  by  a  cypher  or  abbreviation,  thus 
iHT,  which,  he  says,  expresses  the  number  318;  the  t  being 
placed  for  the  cross,  and  the  m  for  Jesus.  The  object  was  to 
conceal  the  name,  so  that  none  but  those  initiated  into  their 
mysteries  might  understand  its  meaning;  and  this  might  easily 
be  effected  by  means  of  the  sum  of  the  numerals. 

Thus  tlien  the  number  of  the  beast  is  declared  in  Rev.  xiii. 
IS,  to  be  x^'^ — which  is  evidently  propounded  as  a  mystery; 
and  the  mind  that  hath  wisdom  is  invited  to  count  or  explain 
it.  And  it  has  a  threefold  character.  For,  first,  it  is  the 
mark,  or  charagma,  of  the  beast,  which  is  imprinted  on  the 
forehead  or  in  {he  right  hand  of  his  subjects;  (v.  16)  which  is 
wiiat  led  me,  in  the  note  on  the  last  page,  to  observe  that  the 
number  is  not  mentioned  in  chap.  xix.  20,  seeing  that  ihemark 
is  mentioned. t  For,  secondly,  the  mark  is  the  tiutiiber,  these 
three  letters  being  three  cyphers.  And,  thirdly,  under  the 
number  expressed  by  these  three  cyphers,  viz.  G66,  is  com- 
prised the  name-X 

*  Numerous  examples  are  to  be  found  in  Mariianus  Capella.  lib.  ii. 

t  Yerse  17  appears  to  be  explicit  on  this  point — "And  that  no  man  might 
buy  or  sell,  save  he  that  had  the  mark,  or  the  name  of  the  beast,  or  the  numbeF 
of  his  name;  which  if  compared  with  verse  1(>  du  not  seem  to  mean  three  dis- 
tinct things,  but  one  thing;  each  term  being  expletive  of  the  former. 

t  It  must  b?  borne  in  mind  that  the  Arabian  characters  for  numerals  were 
not  introduced  till  about  the  tenth  century;  so  that  in  the  apostle's  time  there 
20* 


310    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

3.  Passing  on  then  to  the  interpretation  of  this  number,  the 
early  Fathers  seem  never  to  have  thought  of  any  other  mode 
than  that  of  bringing  forward  some  word,  the  value  of  the  nu- 
meral letters  of  which,  when  added  together,  makes  666. 
Those  of  them  who  lived  nearest  to  the  times  of  the  apostles, 
seem  to  have  taken  the  Greek  language  as  the  basis  of  the  cal- 
culation, all  the  letters  of  which  have  a  numeral  signification; 
but  afterwards  it  came  to  be  disputed  whether  the  enumeration 
should  be  in  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Greek,  or  Latin.  Those  who 
adopt  the  Hebreio  do  it  on  account  of  the  Hebraisms  contained 
in  the  Apocalypse,  and  more  particularly  on  account  of  the 
express  allusion  to  words  in  "the  Hebrew  tongue,"  as  Abaddon 
and  Annageddon.  Rev.  ix.  11;  xvi.  16.  Those  who  advocate 
the  Syriac  do  it  on  the  ground,  that  Syriac  was  the  vernacular 
tongue  of  Palestine,  as  is  supposed.  The  Latin  seems  to  be 
sustained  by  no  argument  beyond  its  being  the  prevalent  lan- 
guage of  the  Roman  empire.  The  Greek  claims  the  decided 
preference;  first,  from  the  circumstance  of  the  Apocalypse 
having  been  written  in  that  language;  and,  secondly,  from  the 
fact  that  the  Greek  has  ever  been  the  standard  of  reference 
among  critics,  so  far  as  the  New  Testament  is  concerned, 
throughout  the  Christian  Church.  Moreover,  there  are  refer- 
ences equally  express  in  the  Apocalypse  to  the  signification  of 
words  in  the  Greek  tongue,  (if  that  be  considered  of  moment;) 
as  Apollyon,  Rev.  ix.  11.' 

Other  modes  of  interpreting  the  number  of  the  beast  have 
been  suggested  in  later  periods  of  the  Church.*  Many  have 
supposed  it  to  have  a  reference  to  time,  comprehending  a  pe- 
riod of  666  years.  In  the  year  1213,  Pope  Innocent  III.  ex- 
horted the  Christians  to  the  recovery  of  the  holy  land,  in  the 
hope  they  should  be  more  successful  since  the  666  years  from 
the  rise  of  Mahomet  were  then  run  out;  thus  taking  the  Sara- 
cens to  be  the  beast.  In  1481  Joannes  Viterbiensis,  who  took 
the  Turks  to  be  the  beast,  gave  Sextus  IV.  great  hope  on  simi- 

was  no  other  means  of  expressing;  a  number  but  by  letters  as  cj'phers,  or  by 
writing  it  in  full, — as  six  hundred  three  score  and  six.  Grotius  and  Mill  have 
affirmed,  that  the  original  MSS.  of  the  apostles  were  not  written  with  cypher 
letters,  or  abbreviations,  and  that  they  were  not  used  till  after  the  third  or 
fourth  century.  This  is  however  a  palpable  oversight;  for  in  the  times  of 
Irena:^us  he  accounts  for  the  circumstance  that  some  MSS.  had  GIG  instead  of 
6G6,  by  supposing,  that,  by  mistake,  I  had  been  substituted  for  S,  and  thus  that 
it  had  been  written  ;^/s-' instead  of  >^s-'.  Moreover  he  states  that  the  latter 
reading  was  found  in  all  the  best  MSS.  and  that  it  was  the  same  in  the  time 
of  St.  John.  Lib.  v.  cap.  30.  And  this  1  consider  all  that  need  be  said  in  order 
completely  to  refute  the  system  of  Archbishop  Laud,  now  revived  by  Profes- 
sor Lee,  &c.  who  adopt  this  exploded  number  G16  on  the  authority  merely 
of  the  Codices  of  Petavius,  a  French  Jesuit. 

♦  Some  of  the  early  Fathers  also  distinguished  between  the  viark  of  the 
Beast  and  his  nvmher;  and  accounted  the  mark  to  be  circumcision,  which  to- 
gether with  the  burdensome  obligations  of  the  Mosaic  ritual  they  thought 
Antichrist  would  restore.     See  Montague's  "Appello  Cojsarem." 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    31  J 

lar  ground.  Luther  afterwards  expounded  the  duration  of  the 
papacy  as  666  years,  beginning;  with  Pope  Hildebrand:  and  so 
likewise  did  Bibliander  and  Capellus.*  Their  system  how- 
ever has  been  sufliciently  disproved  by  the  event. 

Mr.  Francis  Potter,  a  clergyman  of  Somersetshire,  published 
in  1642  a  treatise  on  this  number,  which  has  been  greatly 
eulogized  by  Mede  and  Dr.  H.  More.  The  principle  of  it  is, 
the  extracting  the  square  root  of  the  number,  (which  he  makes 
25,)  and  then  tracing  a  number  of  far-fetched  coincidences  in 
the  papal  system,  combining  with  the  number  25.  The  num- 
ber 25  however  is  not  strictly  the  root  of  666,  leaving  as  it 
does  a  residue  of  41:  the  number  26  would  have  been  nearer 
as  a  root,  since  the  difierence  would  then  only  have  been  10. 
But  this  system  has  likewise  fallen  into  neglect,  and  almost  all 
modern  expositors  now  seek  for  some  word  or  sentence,  the 
numerical  value  of  the  letters  of  which  corresponds  with  the 
number  666. 

4.  Numerous  are  the  words  and  phrases  brought  forward, 
which  claim  to  be  the  proper  solution.  First  may  be  named 
three,  which  are  mentioned  by  Irenasus,  viz. — v.-jxvbxt,  Actnivc;,  and 
Tiirrtv,  which  are  selected  by  him  from  various  others  which 
are  not  named;  so  that  numerous  guesses  must  have  been  ad- 
vanced at  that  early  period.  The  former  he  dismisses  as 
scarcely  worthy  of  notice:  the  two  last  he  regards  with  some 
complacency.  He  sccma  to  give  the  preference  to  the  word 
ruruv,  because  it  has  six  letters  only,  and  in  each  syllable  three 
letters;t  and  because  none  of  the  kings  of  the  Roman  Empire 

*  For  more  of  this  matter  the  preface  to  Bengelius  may  be  consulted,  (p. 
302)  who  himself  makes  considerable  use  of  the  number  666,  as  a  chronological 
notation,  in  the  arrangement  of  his  periods.     , 

t  The  numerical  value  of  the  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Roman  letters  is  as  fol- 
lows:— 

Heisrew.  Rom.\n-. 

N  -  1  S  —    30  J     _        1 

2  —  2  n  _    40    .         V   —        5 

J  —  3  J   —    50  X  —      10 

T  —  4  0—60  L    —      50 

,T  _  5  y  —     70  C    —     100 

1   _  6  B  —    80  D   —    500 

,    _  7  X  —    00  M  —  1000 

n  —  H  |i  —  KM)  The  re- 

a  —  0  T  —  200  maining 

These,  when  used  as  cyphers,             <  — 10  c  —  300  letters  have 

have  always  a  dash  above  them;             :  — 20  n  —  100  no   numeri- 

when  the  dash  is  beneath  it  adds  cal  value. 

three  cyphers  to  their  value:  as 

a  =  l.<f  ^   1000. 


Gref.k. 

y  —  1 

,   —  10 

p  —   100 

a  —  2 

>i  —   20 

<r  —  200 

^-3 

X  —  30 

T  —  300 

<r  —  4 

fx  —  40 

V  —  400 

i  —  5 

V  —  50 

9  -  500 

r  —  6 

^  —  GO 

X  -   G'^O 

c  —  ~ 

0  —  70  . 

4  —  700 

«""—  8 

TT—  80 

«  —  800 

5  —  9 

S  —  90 

'  —  000 

312   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

had  borne  the  name  of  XsiTai-,*  and  for  various  other  unsatisfac- 
tory reasons.  Whereas  in  regard  to  ActTmo^,  he  says,  <'it  is  very 
likely  to  be  the  true  one,  because  they  were  Lalitis  who  then 
reigned. "t  By  his  thus  readily  applying  the  name  to  the 
Roman  Empire,  he  seems  to  consider  it  as  generally  under- 
stood, that  that  was  the  kingdom  symbolized  by  the  beast  of 
the  Apocalypse;  but  he  at  the  same  time  affects  to  deprecate 
the  application  of  this  number  to  it,  and  even  the  inquiry  it- 
self, until  the  kingdom  should  first  be  broken  up  and  divided 
into  ten;  and  his  whole  proceeding  in  regard  to  it  looks  as  if 
he  had  been  influenced  by  the  prudential  consideration,  not 
needlessly  to  provoke  the  wrath  of  the  powers  that  be,  upon  a 
subject  that  was  involved  in  so  much  obscurity. 

This  word  Laleinos,  has  been  since  adopted  by  some  of  the 
most  eminent  commentators  in  difierent  ages;  but  the  papists 
having  been  pressed  by  it,  as  a  proof  that  the  Latin  Church  is 
the  apostacy  described  in  the  Apocalypse,  Bellarmine  objected 
that  it  was  incorrect  to  write  the  word  Laieinos  with  the  dip- 
thong  6/,  and  that  it  ought  rather  to  be  written  Latinos,  Pas- 
sages from  Hesiod,  Polybius,  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus, 
Strabo,  Plutarch,  Dio  Cassius,  Photius  and  the  Byzantine  his- 
torians have  been  alleged,  wliich  adopt  the  latter  orthography. 
The  Rev.  R.  Rabett,  however,  in  his  recent  treatise  on  the 
number  of  the  beast,  has  ably  vindicated  the  reading  of  Ire- 
naeus:  in  regard  to  which  he  argues,  that  the  question  is  not 
whether  the  parties  just  enumerated  used  the  s;,  but  whether 
that  mode  of  writing  the  circumflexed  1  among  the  ancient 
Greeks  or  Romans,  in  the  names  of  men,  was  genuine  orthog- 
raphy in  the  time  of  Irenaeus.  In  proof  of  this  he  produces  an 
overwhelming  mass  of  evidence.^     Besides  this,  the  authority 

*  Wetstein  appears  to  adopt  this  word  for  a  reason  directly  opposite  to  that 
of  Irenaeus,  viz.  because  it  is  a  name  that  had  been  borne  by  some  of  the  sove- 
reigns of  Rome;  for  he  applies  the  whole  vision  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem by  Titus,  whom  he  makes  the  same  as  Teitan;  and  the  same  as  Tcita 
also,  in  order  to  adapt  it  to  the  possibility  of  GIG  being  the  correct  number. 

t  His  words  are,  a-^twvoc nomen  habet  sexcentorum  sexaginta  sex  numerum; 
et  valde  verisimile  est,  quoniam  novissimum  regnum  hoc  habet  vocabiiiuni; 
Latini  enim  sunt  qui  nunc  regnant."    Lib.  v.  c.  30. 

+  Scaliger  asserts  that  the  Greeks  always  write  the  letter  iol.a  with  the  dip- 
thong  «,  when  they  pronounce  it  before  an  v,  as  Avtws/voc,  2'//Ss/vof,  and  Aarswo?: 
"Mffli,  therefore,  (saith  he,)  which  custom  hath  established,  not  only  is  no  fault 
to  write  it  so,  but  it  would  appear  necessary  lo  make  it  .s«."  Animad.  ad  Chron. 
Euseb.  100.  Mr.  Rabett  farther  cites  examples  of  the  <  being  written  tt  before 
other  letters;  as  in  the  instance  of  Eusebius,  "wlio  writes  the  name  of  Irenaeus, 
E/pvotioc;  with  various  other  examples  from  Varro,  Plautus,  and  Lucilius;  and 
quotes  Scapula,  declaring  the  practice  to  have  been  common  in  (he  time  of 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    3^3 

of  Ennius  (lib.  vi.  20)  has  been  quoted,  by  Dr.  H.  More  and 
Bishop  Newton,  who  uses  the  identical  Luk-itios;  and  Irentous 
himself  must  be  considered  as  no  mean  authority,  seeing  that 
he  writes  both  tuthv  and  xaTwvoc  with  tlic  dipthong,  and  without 
any  intimation  that  he  is  deviating  from  the  ordinary  usage. 

JMany  solutions  of  this  number,  by  the  ancients,  are  pre- 
served in  the  Commentary  of  Arethas  of  Cappadocia,  among 
which  the  follovving  are  examples:  0  vnMrm,  the  victor; — annot  o^yoi, 
the  xvicked  guide; — *A>t6».c  /iKcijkf:oi,  truly  hurling; — ttxmi  /3«jrxavoc,  the 
old  enchanter,  or  slanderer; — afjivo?  aSuoc,  the  unjust  lamb; — >.«,«7rsT/f, 
that  which  is  lucid,  in  the  sense  of  Lucifer.  Primasius  also 
gives  from  Hippolytus,  apoi/^s  for  otpvoufAM,  I  deny,  or  apostatize. 
From  Ticonius  the  same  Primasius  gives  avTs^oc,  and  llujiertus 
yevTHfinor,  which,  though  they  make  the  number,  I  confess  I  see 
not  the  point  of:  fissc  u/ui  itti  yj.m,  J  am  God  upon  earth,  is  easier  to 
be  understood. 

Various  of  the  Roman  Emperors  were  supposed  to  be  Anti- 
christ, and  the  names  of  some  of  these  answered  to  the  num- 
ber: as  OxjKTTt'.;  for  Llpius  Trajanus.  Bossuet  makes  it  out  to  be 
Dioclesian,  whose  name  was  at  first  Diodes,  and  which  on  re- 
signing his  empire  to  Maximian  he  resumed  again.  To  make 
the  number  GdQ,  the  letters  which  are  Roman  numerals  must 
alone  be  counted;  and  it  must  be  written  thus;  dioclcs  avg\s- 
tvs.  Julian  the  apostate  has  been  also  made  to  suit  this  num- 
ber by  a  little  twisting  and  humouring  his  names;  as  may  be 
seen,  together  with  the  two  previous  examples,  in  Calmet. 

Numerous  epithets,  besides  that  of  Lateinos,  have  been 
brought  forward  to  suit  the  papal  empire,  or  church,  and  in 
various  languages.  The  names  of  some  of  the  bishops  or 
popes  have  suited;  as  Linus  Secundus,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  second  Bishop  of  Rome.  He  is  adduced  on  account 
of  the  following  sentence  in  the  Sibylline  Oracles,  (Lib.  viii.): 
A/i-oc  stt/Tov  oxe/T=t/,  which  by  many  was  supposed  to  point  at  him. 
Silvester  Secundus  was  brought  forward  by  Caspar  Heunisch, 
(mentioned  by  Bengelius;)  which  name,  together  v^^ith  Liinis 
Secutidus,  must  be  calculated  by  the  Roman  numerals.  Bene- 
dict the  Ninth  came  in  for  the  same  honour;  but  it  is  written 


Cicero.  He  also  brinj^.s  forwanl  numerous  instances  of  Greek  inscriptions 
from  the  medals  of  the  Roman  Emperors,  in  the  Thesaurus  rci  Anliquaricc 
of  Hubert  Goltzius,  and  from  the  Voijage  to  the  Chcrsoncsus,  &c.  of  the  Sieur 
A.  de  la  Motraye.  It  may  be  here  added,  as  affording  testimony  at  the  same 
time  to  the  use  of  the  dipthong,  and  to  the  mode  of  calculating  names,  that 
Jerome  asserts  in  regard  to  the  word  ^aSpac  for  ^/d/jac,  a  name  given  by  the 
Persians  to  the  sun,  that  it  must  be  written  /Au^fxc,  and  not  fxu9fix(,  otherwise  its 
letters  will  not  give  3G5,  the  number  of  the  days  of  the  solar  revolution. 


314   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

in  Greek,  fini^tx-To;.  The  former  of  these  two  was  fixed  on  from 
the  circumstance  of  his  living  at  the  distance  of  about  a  mille?i- 
nary  of  years  from  the  nativity  of  Christ;  and  the  latter,  from 
his  living  at  about  the  same  distance  of  time  from  the  suffering 
of  Christ.  Passing  from  the  mention  of  particular  individuals, 
Osiander  was,  I  believe,  the  first  who  sought  for  the  number 
of  the  beast  in  n^cn,  Romilh,  or  Roman;  and  he  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  Daubuz,*  and  some  few  other  eminent  expositors. 
Piscator,  Brightman,  and  others,  have  hnnxni-ti  iT=iKi>t.a.jhe  Italian 
Church;  and  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  » Aarm  /ictcnkua.,  the  Latin  kingdom. 
Seebachius  was,  I  believe,  the  first  that  fixed  upon  Ludovicus, 
on  account  of  France  being  considered  the  principal  of  the 
kingdoms  of  the  beast;  but  many  others  have  adopted  this 
name.  A^roraTJi?  has  been  applied  to  the  papacy  by  Mr.  Faber, 
Archdeacon  Wrangham,  &c.  ^n-xTnttrKo?  for  7rrL7riTx.o?  has  also  this 
number;  and  so  have  the  following  sentences'  in  Hebrew  -'S^a 
iiiw\^pr\  1DON  Abinu  Kadersha  Papa — '^Our  Holy  Father  the  Pope:'^ 
TvSj?  ifip  ni.T'  01N  Elian,  Adonai,  Jehovah,  Kadosch; — ^Hhe  Most  High, 
Lord,  holy  God." 

*  Daubuz  brings  forward  as  many  circumstantials  to  favour  his  adoption 
of  the  word  Roman,  as  Mr.  Rabett  does  in  behalf  of  the  epithet  Lateinos.  The 
latter  instances  the  facts,  that  the  Latin  language  has  been  canonized  by  the 
Council  of  Trent  and  adopted  for  the  use  of  the  whole  Church,  instead  of  the 
Italian,  which  is  the  vernacular  tongue  of  Italy; — that  they  allow  of  no  exer- 
cise of  religion  but  in  Latin; — that  the  Pope  still  considers  himself  the  head  of 
the  Latins,  and  that  the  Church  and  Empire  is  distinguished  by  the  adopted 
epithet  oi  Roman.  This  latter  point,  however,  rather  belongs  to  Daubuz:  the 
heads,  he  says,  are  still  Roman;  and  the  language  is  Roman,  both  in  the  East 
and  West:  "For  the  Latin  is  really  the  Roman,  and  the  modern  Greek  is  called 
Roman  by  themselves,  and  they  call  themselves  Rovian,  and  are  so  called  by 
the  Eastern  nations.-'  So  that,  as  to  the  thing,  or  notion  of  the  name,  he  finds 
it  Roman. 

t  This  word  is  opposed  by  Mr.  Rabett,  with  several  formidable  arguments. 
But  that  which  appears  entirely  destructive  of  its  pretensions  is,  that  it  is 
written  A;rorstT»c,  instead  of  A^ros-TaTx?:  and  the  episemon  r'  he  asserts  is  not  a 
contraction  of  (tt,  but  is  derived  from  the  double  rr,  or  F,  written  r,  and  that 
it  has  no  other  power  but  the  detonation  of  number,  any  more  than  two  other 
characters  used  as  numerals,  viz.  K:nr7ra  and  a-a-vTrt.  These  are  never  met  with 
other  than  as  numerals  and  in  calculations;  and  Mr.  R.  therefore  contends, 
that  had  it  been  customary  for  the  Greeks  to  make  use  of  an  episemon  asalefter, 
we  should  meet  with  examples  of  the  other  two  in  words;  and  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  were  usual  to  make  use  of  any  of  the  numerous  stenographical  con- 
tractions of  the  letters  of  the  Greek  alphabet  for  numerals,  we  should  meet  with 
other  instances  besides  that  of  r.  The  accidental  circumstance  of  resem- 
blance between  the  contraction  s^  and  the  episemon  s"  has  misled  those  who 
have  adopted  this  word,  which  is  like  using  in  English  the  cypher  0,  for  the  letter 
0.     If,  therefore,  it  be  really  wriuen  <rr,  the  number  is  1168. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    3^5 

The  papists  however  have  not  been  remiss  in  turning  round 
upon  the  protestants;  for  they  apply  to  the  latter  the  term 
a^Tos-ATxc,  and  Feuardentius  hesitates  between  \uc,utTn*  and  J\Iar- 
thi  Luther,  which  he  writes  Ma^tiv  A^vrip  (Annot.  in  Iren.)  and 
the  same  is  found  in  Calmet,  made  out  in  Hebrew,  nnSiS 
Luther  A 

Mr.  Rabctt,  in  his  treatise  before  alluded  to,  has  narrowed 
the  grounds  of  discussion  on  this  subject,  by  pointing  out  the 
terms  of  the  proposition  as  contained  in  the  scriptures.  1st.  He 
considers  that  the  name  must  be  written  and  calculated  in 
Greek;  2.  That  it  must  form  the  proper  "name  of  a  man;" 
3.  That  the  name  must  contain  the  number  666  and  no  other. 
To  which  may  be  added,  4thl)^  That  as  the  beast  is  the  sym- 
bol of  a  kingdom,  so  it  should  be  the  name  of  a  kingdom  also. 
If  these  principles  of  interpretation  be  followed,  they  will 
sweep  away  all  the  examples  adduced  excepting  Lateinos;  which 
has  the  farther  advantage  of  having  been  hit  upon  previous  to 
the  event  having  given  that  peculiar  plausibility  to  it  which  it 
now  enjoys,  and  by  an  individual  whose  prejudices  evidently 

*  As  the  word  Mits^s-r/c  must  be  regarded  with  complacency  by  those  who 
consider  Mahomet  to  have  been  the  Antichrist,  it  will  be  proper  here  to  state 
the  objection  to  it,  which  is  principally  on  account  of  the  Orthography.  The 
Romish  bishop  Walmsley  adopts  it  as  written  above,  on  the  authority,  as  he 
says,  of  Euthymius,  Zonares,  and  Cedrenus;  and  considers  that  it  will  be 
some  future  Turkish  antichrist  who  will  adopt  the  name  of  Mahomet.  Mr. 
Faber  however  has  shown  that  the  authorities  of  the  bishop  are  a  daring  fa- 
brication of  his  own,  as  they  all  write  the  word  differently  from  each  other,  and 
from  him;  thus  Mw^oufA.rT  — Cedrenus. 

Moo^fA^       — Zonaras. 
Mcei/msS      — Euthyniius. 
The  latter  also  writes  it  as  Zonaras.    The  following  are  additional' instances 
of  different  modes  of  writing  it  Adduced  by  Mr.  Faber — 
MaujUiS       — Nicetas. 
Mix/uiTx;    — Chalcocondylas. 
Ma-x^/uiiT     — Cantacuzenus. 
Mixif^iT      — Ducas  Michael. 
Mit;tsw/<8T>tc — Joannes  Cananus. 
In  none  of  the  above  instances  is  it  MnofAinc,  and  Mr.  Rabett  farther  con- 
tends that  this  is  not  a  nroper  Greek  termination,  as  it  should  be  either  t«? 
or  Txf. 

t  Some  other  examples  might  be  brought  forward,  but  they  are  hot  of  a 
character  to  claim  the  serious  attention  of  the  reader.  Some  have  found  it  in 
the  names  or  titles  of  Napoleon;  Mr.  Croly  makes  it  out  in  the  Inquisition, 
The  name  fixed  upon  by  Vitringa  must  not  be  passed  by,  being  the  more  ex- 
traordinary frpm  such  a  writer.  It  is  c3|"»3in  Adoiiikain,  because  he  is  said  in 
Ezra  ii.  13  to  have  had  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  children  or  descendants. 


316    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

lead  him  rather  to  reject  than  to  entertain  it.  But  having  thus 
brought  before  the  reader  that  information  which  1  have 
gleaned  upon  the  subject,  I  must  leave  him  to  form  his  own 
conclusions. 

THE  TWO  WITNESSES. 

III.  The  two  Witnesses  mentioned  in  Rev.  xi.  are  involved 
at  present  in  as  much  uncertainty  and  obscurity  as  the  name  of 
the  beast,  and  have  given  rise  to  nearly  as  many  interpretations 
and  conjectures. 

1.   The  first  point  questioned  is  the  number  of  the  witnesses. 

(1.)  Some  understand  it  literally  that  there  are  only  to  be 
two;  and  consequently  they  look  only  for  hoo  individuals.  Of 
those  who  have  been  thus  fixed  upon  may  be  instanced  Enoch 
and  Noah, — Enoch  and  Elijah, — Moses  and  Aaron, — Moses 
and  Christ,  Caleb  and  Joshua, — Elijah  and  Elisha, — Ezra  and 
Nehemiah, — Joshua  and  Zorobabel, — Elijah  and  John  the 
Evangelist. 

The  opinion  that  Enoch  and  Elijah  would  return  again  to 
earth,  and  be  actually  put  to  death,  seems  to  have  been  founded 
on  the  circumstance  that  neither  of  them  have  seen  death,  and 
on  the  promise  in  Malachi  and  by  our  Lord,  that  Elijah  should 
again  come.  (Mai.  iv.  5.  Matt.  xvii.  11.)  Many  of  the  early 
fathers  fixed  on  these  two,  as  the  two  witnesses  of  Rev.  xi. 
and  they  have  been  followed  by  some  of  the  popish  writers.* 

Moses  and  Aaron,  Caleb  and  Joshua,  Elijah  and  Elisha, 
have  been  fixed  upon  as  having  been  eminent  witnesses  for 
God  during  times  of  the  rebellion  or  apostacy  of  God's  people: 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  with  Joshua  and  Zorobabel,  as  having 
witnessed  during  a  period  of  great  depression  of  the  church 
immediately  preceding  a  revival:  all  which  circumstances  are 
supposed  to  be  indicated  by  the  context  of  Rev.  xi.  though,  in 
regard  to  Moses  and  Aaron,  Elijah  and  Elisha,  Zorobabel  and 

♦Amonj^the  Fathers  who  entertained  this  opinion  were  Hippolytus,  Ter- 
tuUian,  Cyprian,  Ephraim  Syrus,  Ambrose,  and  St.  Jerome;  also  Augustine, 
Prosper,  Gregory,  Damascon  and  Aretas.  See  Dr.  Hildrop  on  Amichrist, 
p.  175. 

The  belief  that  Elijah  was  personally  to  appear  again  was  almost  universal 
among  the  early  Fathers,  (as  may  be  seen  in  the  treatise  on  this  subject,  of 
Dr.  John  Alsted,  translated  by  Burton,)  for  many  held  it  who  did  not  account 
him  to  be  one  of  the  two  witnesses.  The  expectation  was  grounded  upon  our 
Lord's  words — "Elias  truly  shall  Jirst  come  and  restore  all  things;"  which  words 
are  concluded  to  be  independent  of  the  accommodation  of  the  words  of  Mala- 
chi immediately  after  by  our  Lord  to  John  the  Baptist,  which  was  considered 
only  as  a  typical  accomplishment.  Moreover  the  SrptKasinl  reading  of  Mala- 
chi'iv.  5  is  "Behold  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  TiMilc,"  which  they  considered 
as  distinguishing  it  to  be  that  prophet  who  is  to  come  in  propria  persona,  and 
not  by  his  spirit  in  another. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  3^7 

Joshua,  more  circumstantial  marks  of  resemblance  have  been 
pointed  out.* 

It  is  evident  that,  with  the  exception  of  Enoch  and  Elijah, 
these  pairs  have  been  viewed  as  types  of  the  two  witnesses, 
rather  than  that  their  personal  coming  was  looked  for  in  order 
to  witness  again.  To  the  case,  however,  of  Enoch  and  E^lijah 
may  be  added  that  of  Elijah  and  St.  John  the  Evangelist, 
whose  expected  re-appearance  rests  upon  peculiar  ground. 
The  instance  of  Elijah  need  not  be  again  largely  entered  upon; 
it  is  evident  from  2  Kings  xi.  1 — II.  that  he  did  not  die,  but 
was  taken  up  into  heaven  by  a  whirlwind;  and  we  have  also 
seen  from  Mai.  iv.  5,  that  there  is  a  foundation  for  the  ex- 
pectation of  his  return.  John  the  Evangelist  is  supposed  to 
have  been  removed  from  the  earth  in  some  similar  extraordi- 
nary manner,  first  from  what  is  said  on  John  xxi.  21,  22,  of  a 
rumour  among  tlie  disciples  that  John  was  not  to  die,  which  is 
corrected  by  John  himself  thus — "Yet  Jesus  said  not  unto  him. 
He  shall  not  die;  but.  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is 
that  to  thee;"  and,  secondly,  from  there  being  no  authentic-ac- 
counts of  the  death  of  John.  From  this  therefore  it  is  con- 
cluded, that  he  is  still  miraculously  preserved,  and  will  re- 
appear in  the  flesh,  and  be  actually  put  to  death,  and  then  rise 
again.  This  is  supposed  to  be  farther  confirmed  by  the  verse 
which  immediately  introduces  the  account  of  the  two  wit- 
nesses. Rev.  X.  11,  and  which  is  viewed  as  a  kind  of  text,  of 
which  that  description  in  chapter  xi.  is  explanatory — viz. 
''Thou  (John)  must  prophecy  again  before  many  peoples  and 
nations  and  tongues  and  kings. t 
*  The  following  points  of  resemblance  are  noticed  by  Daubiiz:- 


Moses  and  Aaron. 


Elijah  and  Elisha. 


Have  power  over  wa-  Clothed  in  sackcloth  and 
ters  to  turn  them  into  prophesying.  Compare  v.  3 
blood,  and  to  smite  the  and  2  Kings  i.  8  and  ri.  12, 
earth  with  all  plagues  as  13,  which  shews  that  Elisha 
often  as  they  will.  Com- w'3s  clad  as  Elijah. 
pare  Rev.  xi.  G  and  Ex.  Fire  devoureth  their  ene- 
IV.  9  and  vii.  17,  &c.        |mies.     Compare  v.  5  and  1 


Zorobabel  and  Joshua. 

These  are  the  two 
olive  trees,  and  the  two 
candlesticks  standing  be- 
fore the  God  of  the  whole 
earth.  Compare  v.  4 
with  Zech.iv.  3,  11.  14. 

Clothed   in  sackcloth. 


Compare  v.  3  and  Zech. 
iii.  3. 


If  any  man  will  hurtjKings  xviii.  38,  40;  2  Kings  1 
them,  &c.    Compare  v.  i.  10—14  and  vi.  17. 
5  and  Numb.  xvi.  3,  35.       Have  power  over  waters, 
&c.     Compare  v.  6  with  2 
King?  ii.  8,  14. 

Have  power  to  shut  hea- 
ven, that  it  rain  not.  Com- 
pare V.  6  with  1  Kings  xvii. 
and  xviii.  1. 

Taken  up  into  heaven  in  a 
cloud:  true  of  Elijah.     Com- 
pare V.  12  and  2  Kings  ii.  11. 
t  This  view  is  ably  discussed  in  a  work  called  Paradise  Regained,  published 
in  17G4.    The  Author  interprets  the  period  of  their  prophesying  literally. 
VOL.  II. — 27 


318  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

There  have  been  individuals  adduced  in  pairs  from  among 
those  saints  who  liave  been  eminently  witnesses  for  God  sub- 
sequent to  the  period  of  scripture  history:  the  most  remark- 
able of  which  are  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague.  The 
circumstance  that  the  testimony  of  any  of  the  foregoing  has 
not  suited,  as  regards  lime,  to  the  particular  period  to  which  the 
prophecy  in  Rev.  xi,  is  applied,  is  not  considered  as  militating 
against  the  propriety  of  viewing  them  as  witnesses;  for  on  the 
ground  that  Abel  though  dead  is  said  ijet  to  speak;  (Heb.  xi.  4.) 
so  is  their  testimony  supposed  to  continue  and  exist  in  other 
times  than  the  period  of  their  actual  life,  and  to  be  heard  in 
Huss  and  Jerome,  or  any  other. 

(2.)  The  more  general  mode,  however,  among  modern  in- 
terpreters is  to  consider  the  numeral  iiuo,  according  to  the  view 
of  Mede,  as  being  itself  symbolical  of  a  small  but  competent 
number  of  witnesses.  1  Kings  xvii.  12.  Isaiah  vii.  12.  and 
Hosea  vi.  2.  are  considered  a  sufficient  warrant  for  considering 
two  as  a  small  but  indefinite  number;  and  Deut.  xvii.  6.  and 
2  Cor.  xiii.  1.  for  their's  being  a  sufficient  or  competent  tes- 
timony.* Mr.  Cuninghame,  therefore,  who  considers  them 
to  be  "a  small  number  of  faithful  men,  a  truly  spiritual  church, 
that  should  witness  for  the  truth,  &c.,"  concludes  that  they  are 
to  be  found  wheresoever  there  are  persons  testifying  for- the 
truth  of  God  against  the  surrounding  ungodliness  or  supersti- 
tion. Others  have  rather  comprehended  alike  indefinite  num- 
ber of  witnesses  under  the  more  formal  and  precise  notion  of 
two  chitrdies  or  communities.  Thus  Dr.  N.  Homes  considers 
them  to  be  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  churches,  principally  on  the 
ground  that  Rom.  xi.  17,  24  likens  the  Jewish  church  to  an 
olive-tree,  and  Rev.  i.  20  explains  a  can(Ucstick  to  be  likewise 
the  symbol  of  a  church,  and  the  people  of  Israel  are  emphati- 
cally declared  in  Isaiali  xliii.  10,  to  be  God's  zoil7iesses.  The 
Gentile  church  is  supposed  to  be  designated,  from  the  circum- 
stance of  her  being  likewise  alluded  to  in  Rom.  xi.  as  a  wild 
olive-tree;  and  because  in  Zech.  iv.  2  only  o?ie  candlestick  is 
seen,  when  the  Jewish  church  alone  was  witnessing,  yet  two 
candlesticks  are  named  in  Rev.  xi.t     Sir  Isaac  Newton  con- 

*  The  circumstance  of  our  Lord's  ordaining  his  witnesses  to  go  forth  two 
and  two,  as  when  he  sent  out  the  seventy,  may  also  be  considered  a  foundation 
for  the  number  kco  being  named. 

t  See  the  whole  subject  treated  and  the  Jewish  testimony  even  in  Christian 
times  pointed  out  at  length,  in  the  Appendix  to  Dr.  Home's  "Resurrection  Re- 
vealed," revised  edition,  p.  31(5.  The  same  subject  is  also  discussed  by  a 
writer  in  the  Investigator,  vol.  ii.  p.  137,  under  the  signature  C.  S.  He  con- 
siders the  Jewish  witness  to  have  been  in  the  first  instance  more  especially  the 
two  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  who  remained  faithful  to  their  king  when 
the  ten  tribes  revolted;  and  who  continued  to  serve  at  the  Tabernacle  of  wit- 
ness, when  the  ten  tribes  lapsed  into  idolatry.     They  are  nevertheless  spoken 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    3^9 

sidered  the  churches  of  Smyrna  and  Philadelphia  (Rev.  xi.) 
to  be  tijpes  of  the  two  witnesses,  who  were  more  immediately- 
set  forth  by  the  144,000  sealed  ones,  whom  he  takes  to  be 
derived  from  the  hco  icings  of  the  woman,  i.  e.  from  the  eastern 
and  western  empires.  IVlany  other  expositors,  as  More  and 
Fleming,  and  also  Mr.  Faber  of  the  present  day,  consider  the 
two  churches  of  the  Albigcnscs  and  VValdenses  to  be  intended 
by  the  two  witnesses.* 

(3.)  There  remains  one  other  view,  which  in  a  measure  sets 
aside  the  number  two,  and  regards  the  testimony  only.  Such 
is  the  view  of  a  writer  in  the  Investigator  under  the  signature 
of  H.  S.  L.,  who  applies  the  whole  subject  to  tlie  standing 
rninistri/  of  the  n-ord  or  gospel  during  the  Gentile  dispensation. 
This  view  is  ably  and  scripturally  supported,  and  its  analogy 
with  the  references  in  Rev.  xi.  to  Elijah  and  John  the  Baptist 
are  pointed  out.  (Vol.  i.  p.  323.  Vol.  iii.  p.  217  and  311.) 

Others  who  regard  the  testimony  make  it  rather  the  zoritten 
word,  and  discover  the  number  two  also  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  Brightman  is  one  of  the  earliest  who  took  this 
view;  though  he  included  in  it  the  body  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tians, as  being  the  preachers  and  proclaimers  of  the  testimony 
contained  in  them.  Vitringa  inclines  to  unite  in  like  manner 
the  two  Testaments,  or  covenants,  with  the  testimony  of  the 
Waldenses;  and  considers  the  rccr/also,  with  which  the  temple 
and  altar  were  measured,  to  be  therf//e  of  the  Law  and  Gospel. 
Mr.  Frere  and  Mr.  Irving  have  in  our  own  times  considered  it 
to  be  the  two  Testaments  or  covenants  only,  as  contained  in  the 
Scriptures. 

2.  The  next  point  upon  which  great  difference  has  neces- 
sarily existed  has  respect  to  the  period  of  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  the  witnesses.  This  of  course  relates  only  to  those 
who  consider  their  deatli  and  resurrection  to  have  already 
occurred,!  and  to  have  continued  three  days  and  a  half,   or 

of  as  o?(<,'  tribe,  Benjamin  being  absorbed  by  Judah;  and  thus  the  Gentile  is  in 
like  manner  viewed  as  incorporated  into  the  Jewish  church,  and  become  as 
Benjamin,  i.  e.   "Son  of  my  right  hand." 

*  The  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitland  has  very  strenuously  endeavoured  to  overthrow 
the  latter  opinion  in  an  elaborate  work  called  "Facts  and  Documents  illus- 
trative of  the  History,  Doctrine,  and  Rites  of  the  Ancient  Albigenses  and 
Waldenses;"  which  has  called  forth  a  reply  by  the  Rev.  J.  King  of  Hull,  and 
a  rejoinder  by  Mr.  Maitland.  The  documents  are  too  long  to  give  even  an 
abridged  view  of  them  here.  Mr.  M.'s  oliject  however  is  to  show  that  the 
Albigenses  were  nothing  hulhcreiicat  fanalics,  and  that  the  Waldenses,  though 
true  Christians,  were  not  sufhciently  "ancient  to  answer  Mr.  Faber's  views  as 
to  chronology.  These  points  are  ably  controverted  by  Mr.  King:  which  has 
the  best  of  the  argument  it  would  be  unfair  to  state  without  going  more  largely 
into  the  discussion. 

■t  Among  those  who  consider  the  slaying  of  the  witnesses  to  be  yet  future 
are  Bishops  *Newton  and  Horsley,  Archdeacon  Woodhouse,  Dr.Gill,  and 
Messrs.  Scolt,  Keith,  &c. 


320   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

rather  (understanding  the  time  symbolically)  three  years  and  a 
half. 

The  death  of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  is  necessa- 
rily dated  A.  d.  1415.  The  view  of  another  writer  in  the  In- 
vestigator, under  the  signature  of  E.,  (which  view  I  shall  pre- 
sently notice  more  particularly)  dates  the  slaughter  of  the 
witnesses  in  a.  d.  1514,  at  the  chief  session  of  the  Lateran 
general  council;  and  their  resurrection  at  the  protestation  of 
Luther  in  1517;  just  three  years  and  a  half  afterwards.  Bright- 
man  considers  that  the  scriptures  were  reduced  to  a  dead  letter 
by  the  council  of  Trent,  A.  d.  154(),  and  that  the  German 
Protestant  churches  were  soon  after  silenced  by  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Smalcaldic  league  by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  in 
1547.  Mr.  Cuninghame  adopts  the  latter  event  mentioned  by 
Brightman,  though  he  does  not  exactly  date  from  it;  for  he 
considers  the  death  of  the  witnesses  to  have  been  effected  by 
the  promulgation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Interim,  presented 
and  read  in  the  diet  15th  May,  1548;  and  their  resurrection  to 
have  taken  place  in  1551,  in  the  latter  end  of  which  year 
Prince  Maurice  suddenly  took  arms  for  the  relief  of  the  Pro- 
testants, and  made  such  a  rapid  progress  that  the  emperor  fled 
with  the  utmost  consternation,  and  likewise  the  members  of 
the  council  of  Trent,  which  was  thereby  broken  up.*  He 
considers  their  ascension  into  the  symbolical  heaven  of  govern- 
ment to  be  fulfilled  by  the  treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Passau  in 
1552.t 

Mr.  Faber  formerly  held  with  Mr.  Cuninghame  in  adopting 
the  events  just  instanced,  as  prefigured  by  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  the  witnesses,  but  he  has  since  abandoned  them, 
and  taken  up  a  view  once  entertained  by  Dr.  Gill,  and  sub- 
sequently rejected  by  that  writer.      According  to   this,   the 

*  Amono^  the  quotations  from  history  whereby  Mr.  Cuninghame  supports 
his  view  of  the  cliaracter  of  this  period  is  the  following  striking  one  from 
Fra  Paoli  Sarpi,  the  Catholic  historian  of  the  council  of  Trent;  who,  speaking 
of  the  Protestant  ministers  and  doctors  restored  to  the  churches  and  schools 
at  this  lime,  says:  "Although  it  might  have  been  thought  that  there  remained 
very  few  of  the  doctors  and  preachers,  (who  had  taken  refuge  under  the  pro- 
tection of  princes,)  and  that  banishments  and  persecutions  had  almost  exter- 
minated them;  yet,  as  if  llictj  had  been  again  raised  from  the  dead,  a  sufficient 
number  were  found  to  supply  all  the  places."  (Tom.  i.  p.  612.) 

t  Some  date  their  death  from  the  battle  of  Muhlburg,  April  1547,  when  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  and  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  the  two  Protestant  champions, 
were  taken  prisoners, — to  December  1550,  when  they  defeated  and  took  the 
duke  of  Mecklenburgh  prisoner  at  Magdeburg.  The  dates  selected  by  Mr. 
Cuninghame  are  by  no  means  satisfactory;  for,  if  the  Interim  be  dated  from, 
it  ought  to  terminate  with  the  treaty  of  Pas.sau,  August  2,  1552,  which  is  above 
four  years  after.  And  if  ittermiiiate  with  the  standing  up  of  Prince  Mau- 
rice, at  the  end  of  1551,  it  ought  to  commence  with  the  overthrow  of  the 
princes  of  the  Smalcaldic  confederacy  in  1547,  which  again  is  about  four 
years. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  39I 

Vallenses  and  Albigenses,  having  after  many  centuries  of 
bloody  persecution,  in  which  they  separately  and  jointly  bore 
a  faithful  testimony,  were  forbidden  to  exercise  their  religion, 
by  a  decree  of  the  French  king  dated  31st  Jan.  1G8G;  by  which 
decree  also  their  pastors  were  banished  and  their  places  of 
worship  commanded  to  be  destroyed.  In  this  slate  they  con- 
tinued during  the  space  of  three  years  and  a  half,  when  an 
intrepid  body  of  them  under  Henri  Arnaud  secretl)'  crossed 
the  lake  of  Geneva,  Aug.  16,  16S9,  and  recovered  their  pos- 
sessions. Their  ascension  he  dates  in  June  4,  1690,  when  the 
duke  issued  an  edict  recognising  their  independence.* 

The  persecution  of  the  protestanls  by  Mary  queen  of  Eng- 
land, commencing  about  the  year  1553,  and  tlie  more  horrible 
effusion  of  their  blood  in  France,  commencing  with  the  mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew  in  1752,  have  both  been  remarked 
to  have  extended  over  a  period  of  about  three  and  a  half  years. 
But  1  pass  over  particulars,  and  just  note  in  conclusion,  that 
those  who  now  consider  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be 
the  Witnesses,  refer  their  death  to  the  suppression  of  Chris- 
tianity in  France  in  1793,  when  the  Scriptures  were  first 
dragged  through  the  cities  and  towns  and  then  burnt  by  the 
common  hangman,  and  their  resurrection  to  the  law  passed 
about  three  years  and  a  half  afterwards  for  the  regulation  of 
public  worship.t 

*  Some  discrepancy  also  exists  among;  writers  in  their  selection  of  the  par- 
ticulars connected  with  these  events.  For  Cressenerand  Jurieu  date  the  three 
and  a  half  years  from  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685.  Lloyd 
and  Whiston  from  the  actual  destruction  of  the  protestants  by  the  Duke  "of 
Savoy  in  Dec.  1080,  until  June  4,  1690,  when  he  re-established  them.  Mr. 
Whiston  i-tates  that  Bishop  Lloyd  gave  this  application,  or  rather  interpreta- 
tion, of  the  subject  before  the  event  look  place.  ~  Both  in  regard  to  this  view, 
and  to  that  pointed  out  in  the  preceding  note  in  reference  toMr.  Cuninghame, 
it  will  be  observed,  that  the  one  party  date  xhe  ascension  into  heaven  from  that 
event  which  the  other  party  considers  as  the  resurrection. 

T  Having  more  than  once  mentioned  the  editor  of  the  "Illustrations  of  Pro- 
phecy," and  his  republican  sentiments,  I  cannot  altogether  pass  by  his  view  of 
the  Witnesses.  He  considers  that  ihey  are  two  classes  of  witnesses.  He  en- 
tirely denies  that  both  are  religious,  but  only  one,  and  the  other  civil,  witness- 
ing against  and  opposing  "the  tyiannics  of  princes  and  priests,"  and  "bearing 
testimony  against  civd  a's  well  as  religious  tyranny."  But  in  reality  he  makes 
them  only  one,  for  having  largely  insisted  on  those  who  were  political  wit- 
nesses, he  asks,  what  has  become  of  the  religious  witnesses?  and  replies — 
"Wherever //Ta/o?«  is  established  on  a  foundation  sufficiently  broad,  there 
religious  as  well  as  civil  rights  will  be  secured."  Vol.  i.  p.  10!).  The  religious 
witness  is  therefore  absorbed  in  the  political,  which  is  thus  made  to  appear  as 
the  more  valuable  testimony  ot  the  two.  The  allusions  to  Moses  and  Aaron, 
and  to  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel,  already  noticed  as  existing  in  the  prophecy, 
are  pressed  and  distorted  into  this  view: — "Moses  emancipated  the  people 
from  a  civil  despot;  Aaron's  object  was  to  preserve  their  religious  indepen- 
dence inviolate;"  and  so  it  was  with  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel.  P.  101.  Their 
being  compag?d  also  to  a  candlestick  is  to  shew,  "that  they  enlighten  the  public 
mind  on  the  rights  of  conscience  and  on  the  rights  of  citizens."  The  promoters 
of  the  French  Revolution  were  the  witnesses  who  prophesied — i.  e.  they  bore 
27* 


322  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

3.  Considering  the  view  taken  by  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Elliot,  in 
the  papers  in  the  Investigator  under  the  signature  E,  as  deci- 
dedly the  most  complete  and  precise  of  any  hitherto  advanced 
by  those  who  consider  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  wit- 
nesses to  have  already  taken  place,  I  proceed  to  lay  a  brief  out- 
line of  it  before  the  reader. 

He  considers  that  the  period  selected  for  their  death  ought 
to  be  that  at  which,  by  cormnon  consent  of  historians,  the  voice 
of  anti-papal  testimony  was  most  effectually  silenced  throughout 
Europe;  and  the  papacy,  supported  by  the  ten-horned  beast, 
was  most  triumphant  against  it;  which  consideration  he  thinks 
a  decisive  objection  against  any  solution  which  refers  for  the 
fulfilment  to  events  subsequent  to  the  Reformation, — the  par- 
tial suppression  of  that  testimony  in  1547,  by  the  dissolution 
of  the  Smalcaldic  confederacy  being  in  no  wise  comparable  to 
the  death-like  silence  that  existed  just  before'  the  protest  of 
Luther?*  Bost's  Histoire  t/e  VEglise  des  Frtres  is  quoted  to 
shew,  that  in  1489  the  deputies  sent  by  the  Bohemian  churches 
to  search  throughout  Europe  for  faithful  teachers  and  reform- 
ers of  the  Church,  with  whom  they  were  desirous  of  making 
common  cause,  returned  unsuccessful.  Vol.  i.  p.  lOG.  In  the 
year  1510  the  Bohemians  and  Hussites  were  themselves  all 
but  silenced  by  a  persecuting  decree  of  the  diet  and  king 
Wladislas  against  them,;  and  Miiner  is  quoted  as  testimony 
"that  the  sixteenth  century  opened  with  a  prospect  of  all 
others  the  most  gloomy  in  the  eyes  of  every  true  Christian." — 
"The  Waldenses  were  too  feeble  to  molest  the  Popedom;  and 
the  Hussites,  divided  among  themselves,  and  worn  out  by  a 
long  series  of  contentions,  zvere  at  length  reduced  to  silence.'' 

testimony  against  error  and  coriuplions  in  an  eminent  degree  and  in  the  most 
public  manner.  He  considers  farther,  "that  the  three  and  a  half  days  of  their 
death  answers  to  three  and  a  h<i\{\\maT  prophetical  months,  or  105  days,  which 
he  counts  as  years;  and  he  dates  this  period  from  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  in  1G85  to  the  French  Revolution,  which  105  years  was  the  period 
during  which  liberty  of  .speech  was,  with  more  than  usual  rigour,  subjected  to 
all  the  shackles  of  despotism,  &c."  P.  113.  The  French  Revolution  was 
therefore  their  resurrection;  and  the  invitation  or  command  from  Louis  XVI. 
to  the  Tiers  Etat  to  assist  in  the  national  deliberations,  from  which  they  had 
been  long  prohibited,  was  the  voice  from  the  throne  saying,  "Come  up 
hither."— ! ! ! 

*  It  is  indeed  one  of  the  serious  objections  to  the  view  taken  by  Mr.  Cun- 
inghame,  that  in  the  very  year  1547  is  to  be  dated  the  accession  of  Edward  to 
the  throne  of  England; — an  event  which  was  the  occasion,  in  another  part  of 
Europe,  of  reviving  the  hopes  of  the  people  of  God,  and  of  giving  free  course 
to  their  testimony  for  the  truth.  Mr.  C.  himself  considers  this  event  as  the 
falling  "in  the  same  hour"  of  a  tenth  part  of  the  cily;  not  perceiving  that  it 
militates  against  that  temporary  triumph  of  Babylon  and  suppression  of  the 
truth,  which  the  terms  of  the  prophecy  seem  to  require.  The  fall  of  the  city 
appears  to  be  the  immediate  effect  of  their  resurrection  and  ascension;  with 
which  the  phrase — "the  same  hour" — is  evidently  connected.  It  must  there- 
fore fellow  on  or  accompany  their  ascension,  and  not  accompany  their  death. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.   323 

And  Mosheim  says — *'The  commotions  previously  excited  by 
the  Waldenses,  Albigenses,  and  more  recently  by  the  Bohe- 
mians, were  enlireltj  suppressed,  and  had  yielded  to  the  united 
powers  of  counsel  and  the  sword."  The  language  of  Mr. 
Cuninghame  himself,  who,  with  another  object  in  view,  de- 
lineates the  character  of  this  period,  is  remarkable  to  the 
point, — "At  the  commencement  of  the  15th  century  Europe 
reposed  in  iht  deep  sleep  of  spiritual  death  under  the  iron  yoke 
of  the  Papacy.  That  haughty  power,  like  the  Assyrian  of  the 
prophet,  said  in  the  plenitude  of  its  insolence,  'My  hand  hath 
found  as  a  nest  the  riches  of  the  people;  as  one  gathereth  eggs 
that  are  left  have  I  gathered  all  the  earth,  and  there  was  none 
that  moved  the  wing,  or  opened  the  mouth,  or  peeped.'  "  3rd 
Edition,  p.  139. 

The  sudden  transition  from  this  stillness  of  death,  as  by  an 
unexpected  resurrection  unto  life,  is  also  strikingly  described. 
Mr.  Cuninghame  continues  the  passage  just  quoted  as  follows; 
— "But  the  deep  wisdom  of  God  is  manifested  in  choosing  <the 
base  things  of  the  world,  and  things  which  are  despised,  and 
things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  the  things  that  are. — 
Suddenly,  in  one  of  the  universities  of  Germany,  tlie  voice  of 
an  obscure  monk  was  heard,  the  sound  of  wliich  rapidl}^  filled 
Saxony,  Germany,  and  Europe  itself,  shaking  the  very  foun- 
dations of  the  papal  power,  and  arousing  men  from  the  lethargy 
of  ages.*  It  was  in  the  year  1517,  that  the  Reformation  began 
by  tlie  preaching  of  Luther,  &c."  The  writer  of  the  article 
On  the  Reformation  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  is  farther 
quoted  as  strikingly  depicting  the  previous  state  of  depression 
and  sudden  change  from  it  at  this  time: — ^'Every  thing  was 
quiet.,  every  heretic  exterminated,  and  the  whole  Christian  world 
supinely  acquiesced  in  the  enormous  absurdities  inculcated  by 
the  Romish  church,  when — in  1517  the  empire  of  superstition 
received  its  first  attack  from  Luther.'^ 

Mr.  Elliot  points  to  the  dates  of  the  commencement  and 
termination  of  this  period,  which  have  been  already  alluded 
to:  viz.  from  the  decrees  of  the  iiinlh  and  chief  session  of  the  fflh 
Lateran  general  Council,  held  A.  D.  1514,  (which,  as  it  were, 
put  tiie  finishing  stroke  to  the  life  of  the  witnesses,  and  sealed 
them  up  in  death, t)  to  the  protestation  of  Luther  in  1517,  just 

*  He  refers  to  Hume's  Hist,  of  Eng.  c.  xxix.  observing,  that  "this  infidel, 
when  he  reluctantly  bears  testimony  in  favour  of  the  cause  of  truth,  is  an  un- 
exceptionable witness." 

t  Mr,  Cuninghame  (in  an  article  published  in  the  Investigator,  vol.  iii.  p. 
28L)  objects  against  this  view,  that  by  making  the  Laieran  Council  slay  the 
witnesses,  he  kills  thctn  by  the  ecclesiastical  power,  which  is  the  second  beast  or 
False  PropJict;  whereas  from  Rev.  xi.  7.  it  is  indisputable  that  they  are  slain 
by  the  first  beast,  or  secular  power.     Mr.  C.  considers  this  a  "fimdamc7ital 


324   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

three  and  a  half  years  after,  when  he  first  posted  his  theses 
against  indulgences,  &c,  on  the  walls  of  Wittenberg;  and  which 
spread  through  the  whole  of  Germany  in  the  short  space  of 
fifteen  days.  Thus  is  the  period  in  question  marked,  both  at 
its  commencement  and  termination,  by  distinct  and  notable 
acts,  and  consequences  resulting  from  those  acts,  corresponding 
respectively  to  the  symbols  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of 
the  witnesses. 

Some  other  circumstances  connected  with  this  Council  are 
noticed  which  must  not  be  passed  over.  (1)  It  was  the  last 
ge?ieral  council  of  the  holy  Roman  Empire;  for  the  Protestants 
declined  to  attend  that  summoned  some  years  after  at  Trent. 
The  French  king  did  not  at  first  acknowledge  it,  but  gave  in 
his  adhesion  in  Dec.  1513.  (2)  It  was  held  at  Rome,  the  prin- 
cipal place  of  concourse  of  the  Empire,  "The  street  of  the 
great  city,  which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  &c." 
(3)  "They  of  {or  fro?n)  the  people  {ik  tc<v  Kcta,v)  and  tongues  and 
nations  shall  see  their  dead  bodies,  &c.:  wliich  points,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Elliott,  to  a  council  or  convention  of  deputies  from  the 
several  states  of  Christendom.  That  these  beheld  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  witnesses  he  considers  proved  by  the  fact  that 
the  Bohemian  brethren  were  invited  to  the  Council's  session, 
held  May  5,  1514,  with  proinise  of  safe  conduct,  but — 7iot  one 
appeared:  "throughout  tl^e  length  and  breadth  of  Christendom 
they  were  silenced;  they  were  deadl''''  It  was  only  left  for  the 
Council  to  guard  against  their  revival,  by  passing  a  decree  in 
which  the  inquisitions  were  stimulated  to  proceed  zealously 
against  all  heretics,  "and  especially  against  suck  as  might  relapse, 
from  whom  every  hope  of  pardon  was  witiiheld."*  (4)  It  is 
written — "They  that  dwell  on  the  earth  shall  rejoice  over  them, 
and  make  merry,  and  send  <rfls  one  to  another,  &c. ;"  and  Mr. 
Elliott  further  shews  that  "the  assembled  princes  and  ]M-elatcs 
separated  from  the  Council  with  complacency  and  confidence, 
and  mutual  congratulations  on  {he  peace,  unity,  and  purify,  of  the 
apostolical  Church."!     But — "Scarcely  (says  the  same  histo- 

objection;'"  but  if  rightly  considered  it  is  no  objection  at  all.  For  the  ecclesias- 
tical power  did  not  really  kill,  but  only  condemned,  and  handed  the  victim 
over  to  the  secular  power.  And  this  is  just  what  the  two-horned  beast  does — 
"he  exerciseth  all  the  power  of  the  first  beast  before  him,"  and  "causes  that  as 
many  as  would  not  worship  the  image  of  the  beast  should  be  killed."  Rev. 
xiii.  12,  l.'j.  It  was  indeed  the  uniled  act  of  the  princes  and  prelates  assem- 
bled. Thus  Herod  and  Pontius  Pilate  are  declared  to  have  killed  Christ,  as 
being  the  secular  arm;  whilst  yet  the  Council  is  declared  to  have  been  his  be- 
trayers and  murderers.  Compare  Acts  iv.  10.  and  27.  with  chap.  vii.  52. 
Besides  this  Mr.  Elliot  does  in  reality  refer  the  silencing  of  the  witnesses  to 
the  effect  of  the  crusades  carried  on  against  them  previous  to  the  decree  of  the 
Lateran  Council;  the  acts  of  which  in  that  session  altcst  their  silence,  and  put 
the  finishing  stroke  to  it. 
♦  Waddington's  History  of  the  Church,  p.  661.  t  Ibid.  p.  663. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    335 

rian)  had  the  departing  prelates  concluded  their  mutual 
congratulations,  when  Luther  commenced  in  the  school  of 
Wittenberg  his  public  preaching  against  the  most  revolting 
corruptions  of  the  Church.* 

The  ascension  of  the  witnesses  into  heaven  (i.  e.  into  "politi- 
cal eminence")  was  fulfilled,  as  this  writer  concludes,  in  April 
1529,  "in  the  very  presence  and  sight  of  their  assembled  ene- 
mies at  the  diet  of  Spires;"  when  "the  princes  of  Hesse  and 
Saxony,  and  many  other  princes  and  imperial  cities  of  the 
empire,  assumed  to  themselves  the  illustrious  name  of  Pro- 
testants, including  in  it,  by  its  Latin  etymology,  the  very 
character  of  witnesses."  This  last  sentence  is  from  Mr. 
Cuninghame's  work,  p.  140.  The  tenth  part  of  the  city  which 
then  fell,  Mr.  E.  inclines  to  apply  to  the  now  fully  organized 
schism  of  the  Protestant  body;  but  if  it  be  preferred  to  under- 
stand it  of  one  of  the  ten  kingdoms,  then  he  points  to  the  case 
of  England. 

(2.)  Such  is  the  view  of  this  able  and  intelligent  writer;t 
and  if  we  are  bound  by  any  abstract  evidence  from  the  struc- 
ture of  the  Apocalypse  to  consider  the  death  of  the  witnesses 
as  part,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  beter  key  to  the  inter- 
pretation: certainly  none  has  been  offered  which  so  well  seems 
to  fit  most  of  the  intricate  wards  of  the  prophecy.  But  there 
are  nevertheless  some  weighty  objections  in  the  way  of  receiv- 
ing it  as  3.  full  and  complete  accomplishment  of  Rev.  xi. — 

First,  it  does  not  appear  to  me  to  answer  fully  to  the  sym- 
bols of  the  prophecy;  which  objection  I  shall  more  fully  notice 
in  the  next  section,  when  I  place  before  the  Reader  the  ele- 
ments for  another  interpretation. 

Secondly,  I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  exposition  which 
makes  the  words  of  Rev.  xi.  7,  "u-hen  they  shall  havejxnished 
their  testimony,  the  beasty  &c.  shall  kill  them,"  to  require  the 
following  paraphrase,  which  Mr.  E.  is  obliged  to  give  to  them: 
''JVhe7i  they  shall  have  thus  entered  on  their  witnessing,  and  whilst 
engaged  in  still  fulfdling  it,  the  beast,  &c."  I  do  not  here  dis- 
pute the  critical  evidence  adduced  by  this  able  writer  to  prove 
that  the  expression  (iT=tvTe>.s3-a.a-/T)tv /xa^y/Kstvai/Tw  will  bear  such  a 
sense;t  for,  admitting  that  it  may  bear  this  sense,  my  objection 

♦  Mr.  Cuninghame  has  more  recently  objected,  that  Mr.  E.  kills  the  Wit- 
nesses  previous  to  A.  D.  1514, — that  all  his  evidence  goes  to  shew  that  they 
were  silenced  previous  to  that  time; — and  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Council  relative  to  their  absence; — whilst  the  date  of  the  Bull 
mentioned  by  Mr.  E.  is  1511  and  not  1514.  (Investigator  Vol.  iii.  p.  504.) 

t  For  the  whole  view  of  Mr.  Elliott,  together  with  the  strictures  of  Mr. 
Cuninghame  on  it,  and  a  reply  and  rejoinder  which  followed,  see  the  Investi- 
gator, vol.  iii_.  pages  185,  281,  440,  504. 

t  Such  a  sense,  or  a  meaning  nearly  equivalent  to  it,  is  supported  by  the 
high  authority  of  Grotius,  Mede,  Dr.  H.  More,  Daubuz,  Bishop  Newton,  and 


326  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

would  equally  remain,  being  grounded  on  the  general  context 
of  the  passage,  and  the  analogy  of  Scripture,  The  idea  of 
two  prophets  being  interrupted  in  their  career  by  death,  and 
after  lying  dead  for  three  and  a  half  days,  being  raised  from 
that  state,  and  then  resiwmig  their  lestimoni/,  and  going  on  with 
their  work,  is  unanalogous  to  any  thing  in  scripture,  and  con- 
trary to  all  that  is  suggested  to  us  by  the  word  of  God.  It  is 
when  believers  have  "finished  their  course," — when  they  have 
''fought  a  good  fight," — when  they  have  ''done  that  which 
their  Father  hath  given  them  to  do,"  that  their  hour  comes. 
Perfectly  consistent,  therefore,  is  it,  when  these  prophets  have 
witnessed  a  good  confession,  and  they  are  now  ready  to  be 
offered  up,  that  they  should  be  perfected  through  death;  and 
have  done  with  all  further  testimony,  so  far  as  that  testimony  is 
to  be  given  in  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  nation. 

Thirdly,  I  can  still  less  reconcile  with  the  congruity  of  the 
symbols  the  notion  of  two  prophets  continuing  to  prophesy  in 
sackcloth  after  they  are  translated  to  the  heavens.  What  Mr. 
Cuninghame  says,  and  what  Mr.  E.  coincides  in,  viz.  that  they 
sympathise  with  those  members  who  still  continue  to  testify  on 
earth  in  circumstances  of  depression,  may  be  true  in  itself;  for 
it  is  true  of  Christ,  who  is  touched  with  the  sense  of  the  in- 
firmities of  his  people.  But  surely  it  were  absurd  to  speak  of 
Christ  as  being  still  in  a  state  of  humiliation  and  depression, 
which  clothing  of  sackcloth  indicates.  When  he  ascended  up 
on  high,  he  entered  into  his  glory,  sitting  down  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  majesty  of  God.  It  was  a  triumph;  and  a  triumph 
and  sackcloth  appear  quite  incongruous.* 

other  competent  scholars,  with  many  others  who  have  followed  them;  but  there 
are  not  wanting  eminent  names  on  the  other  side  of  the  question.  Mr.  E. 
himself  admits  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  natural  and  legitimate  ren- 
dering of  the  Greek  phrase  is  that  which  is  given  in  our  translation;  and  Mr. 
Faber,  whose  competency  to  judge  cannot  be  disputed,  not  being  able  to  re- 
ceive this  version,  submitted  it,  he  says,  to  "a  gentleman  (Mr.  Tate)  who  is 
deservedly  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  first  Greek  scholars  of  the  age:" 
whose  reply  is  as  follows: — "The  laws  of  grammar  inexorably  forbid  that  orav 
riKivanri  should  be  rendered,  when  they  shall  be  about  to  finish:"  the  phrase  can 
only  mean  "whe7i  they  shall  have  finished."  It  is  true  indeed,  that  the  aorists 
subjunctive,  constructed  with  <3Tav,bear  a  future  sense,  but  then  it  is  the  future 
past  {shall  hare)  not  the  future  perfect,  (shall  be  about.)  No  instance  can  be 
produced  from  any  Greek  author,  in  which  an  aorisl  subjunctive  constructed 
with  oTuv  ever  bears  the  sense  of  the  future  perfect."  I  am  aware  that  this 
does  not  fully  meet  the  sense  given  by  Mr.  Elliott,  excepting  as  Mr.  Tate  in- 
sists that  the  phrase  cfflw  07ily  mean,  'when  they  shall  have  finished.'  At  the 
same  time,  what  Mr.  Faber'insinuates  in  regard  to  Mcdc  (vol.  iii.  p.  77)  that 
he  would  not  have  sought  to  deviate  from  the  authorized  translation  but  to 
serve  a  tiirn,  is  not  just  in  his  case:  for  though  he  notices  that  it  7na>/  be  rendered 
"when  they  shall  be  about  [o  finish  their  testimony,^''  he  does  not  adopt  it. 

*  Mr.  Scott  deems  the  two'  things  so  incongruous  that  he  says:  "Now  if  the 
witnesses  were  slain  at  any  of  the  times  which  different  expositors  fix  upon, 
it  inevitably  follows  that  they  prophesied  one,  two,  or  three  hundred  days  in 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    327 

Fourthly,  the  beast  who  kills  the  witnesses  is  *'thc  beast 
that  ascendelh  {to  av:i^:iiyiv)  out  of  the  bottomless  pit."  I  have 
endeavoured  to  shew  in  the  last  chapter,  (p.  286,  288.)  that 
this  is  the  beast  under  his  last  aspect,  after  he  has  rise?!  again  as 
it  were  froni  the  dead.  This  perfectly  agrees  with  Rev.  xvii. 
8, — "The  beast  that  thou  sawest  was,  and  is  not,  and  shall 
ascend  (^saaw  ava.3i;vi/v)  out  of  the  bottomless  pit."  I  believe  the 
time  intended  to  be  indicated  as  present,  in  reference  to  the  ac- 
tion and  circumstances  of  that  vision,  is  7iot  the  time  rvhen  the 
apostle  sees  the  vision,  but  the  time  of  the  judgment  of  the 
GREAT  WHORE,  which  is  the  title  or  subject-matter  of  the  vi- 
sion, as  expressed  in  verse  1.  It  cannot  refer  to  the  time  of 
the  apostle,  for  how  could  it  then  be  said  that  the  beast  "u-as 
and  is  not?"  It  is  equally  plain  to  me,  that  the  phrase  teas,  and 
is  not,  and  shall  ascend,  has  reference  to  three  independent  and 
successive  periods  of  time,  viz.  the  period  when  tiie  beast  reus, 
or  did  exist, — the  interregnum,  or  period  when  he  is  not, — and 
the  period  when  he  shall  ascend  out  ofthej/it,  and  finally  termi- 
nate his  career.  It  is  exceedingly  important  to  ascertain  in 
which  of  these  three  periods  the  witnesses  are  killed:  the  ex- 
pression in  chap.  xi.  7 — "the  beast  that  ascendeth  out  of  the  bot- 
tomless pit,"  evinces  it  to  be  under  the  last  period;  which  ex- 
pression is  altogether  anticipatory,  since  no  beast  at  all  has 
been  mentioned  previous  to  this  verse.  Persuaded,  then,  that 
the  beast  had  not  reascended  from  the  pit  at  the  time  limited 
by  Mr.  Elliott  for  the  death  of  the  witnesses,  I  hesitate  to  con- 
cur in  his  view,  unless  it  may  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a 
primary  fulfilment,  which  is  yet  to  be  succeeded  by  a  more 
precise  and  complete  one.  For  indeed  some  have  thought  it 
not  improbable  (as  has  been  shewn  at  page  251*)  that  all  the 
times  which  have  been  mystically  fulfilled,  will  likewise  have 
a  literal  accomplishment: 

4.  In  regard  to  any  fttture  fulfilment  of  the  death  of  the  wit- 
nesses, I  must  now,  in  conclusion,  recall  the  reader's  attention 
to  the  terms  of  the  prophecy,  which  I  have  just  hinted  I  do 
not  consider  to  have  been  fulfilled;  and  endeavour  to  point  out 
the  principles  on  which  an  expositor  ought  to  proceed  in  the 
interpretation  of  that  prophecy. 

First,  there  is  an  obvious  reference  in  the  prophecy  to  Ze- 
chariah  iv.  14,  inasmuch  as  we  are  told  "These  are  the  two 


sackcloth  less  than  the  predicted  period:  except  any  will  say  that  they  prophe- 
sied in  sackcloth  after  their  resurrection  and  ascension  into  heaven.'' 

*  So  in  Brown's  Bible  on  Rev.  xi.  he  says— "Whatever  murder  of  Christ's 
witnesses  may  have  been  effected  during'  the  whole  rci^n  of  Antichrist  or 
whatever  particular  persecutions  of  about  three  and  a  half  years'  continuance 
have  taken  place,  I  suppose  the  general  slaughter  here  intended  is  future. 


328   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

olive-trees  and  the  two  candlesticks  standing  before  the  God 
of  the  earth;"  and  the  two  olive  trees  are  there  declared  to  be 
"the  two  anointed  oties,  that  stand  by  the  Lord  of  the  whole 
earth."  Secondly,  these  two  anoi?ited  ones  are  evidently,  from 
the  context,  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel,  the  priest  and  the  prince, 
who  stand  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  candlestick,  as  guardians 
and  supporters  to  it;  which  candlestick  is  shewn  by  Rev.  i.  20 
to  be  the  church  of  God.*  This  is  also  clearly  to  be  inferred 
from  this  chapter  itself. — For  when  the  prophet  asks,  What 
are  these,  my  Lord?  the  answer  has  reference  to  the  house  or 
temple  about  to  be  built,  and  of  which  he  is  assured  Zerubba- 
bel shall  both  lay  the  foundation  and  bring  forth  the  top-stone. 
The  reader  need  not  be  informed  that  the  material  temple  brings 
before  us  the  same  formal  idea  as  a  candlestick,  being  the  type 
of  Christ's  mystical  body  the  church,  (Ephes.  ii.  19 — 22.) 
There  is  a  connection  with  the  same  type  or  symbol  in  Rev. 
xi.  which  opens  with  a  command  to  the  apostle  to  rise  and 
measure  the  temple  of  God,  (v.  1.  and  compare  Zech.  ii,  1,  2); 
immediately  after  the  mention  of  which  is  introduced  the  two 
witnesses,  which  are  explained  to  be  the  two  olive-trees  and  two 
candlesticks. 

Another  important  circumstance  to  be  noticed  in  the  pro- 
phecy of  Zechariah  is,  that  the  two  witnesses  there  mentioned, 
viz.  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel,  are  together  a  type  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  in  his  two-^fold  character  of  priest  and  king,  or  royal 
priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedec.  He  is  at  once  the  true 
candlestick  and  the  o\iYe-branch,\  who  builds  up  and  supplies 

*  In  Rev.  i.  20,  there  are  seven  candlesticks,  answering  to  each  of  the  seven 
Gentile  communities  mentioned  in  the  two  following  chapters.  In  Zech.  iv. 
there  is  but  one  candlestick,  or  lamp-sconce,  but  it  has  seven  lamps  upon  it. 
The  number  seven,  signifying  fulness  and  completeness,  is  regarded  in  both 
instances;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  figure  described  by  the  position  of 
these  churches,  if  it  be  outlined,  describes  the  branches  of  a  candlestick  of  not 
an  unusual  shape;  Sardis  being  the  centre,  Pergamos  and  Laodicea  being  at 
the  two  extreme  verges  of  the  ellipsis  which  they  form,  and  the  other  four 
churches  at  nearly  regular  distances  within:  thus— 


t  The  nlivc-tree.s  are  called  indilferently  ^'ccs  or  branches.    Compare  verses 
11  and  12, 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  329 

and  gives  light  to  his  Church,  which  is  his  own  body.  That  he 
is  the  person  eminently  intended,  and  in  this  character,  is  evi- 
dent from  chap.  vi.  11 — 14,  where  the  prophet  is  directed  to 
take  silver  and  gold  and  make  tu-o  crou-ns,  one  for  the  priest 
and  one  for  the  prince,  and  to  set  them  upon  the  head  of 
Joshua,  and  to  speak  unto  him  and  sa}-,  "liehold  the  man 
whose  name  is  the  branch,  and  Ik  shall  grow  up  out  of  his 
place  and  shall  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  even  He  shall  build 
the  temple  of  the  Lord;  and  he  shall  bear  the  glory,  and  shall 
sit  and  rule  upon  his  throne;  and  he  shall  be  a  priest  tipon  his 
throne:  and  the  counsel  of  peace  shall  be  between  them  both: 
and  the  crowns  shall  be  for  a  memorial  in  the  temple  of  the 
Lord."  It  is  remarkable  that  Joshua  the  priest  is  selected  as 
the  one  on  whom  both  crowns  are  placed,  and  through  him  it 
is  promised  that  the  Branch  shall  build;  and  yet  it  was  Zcrub- 
babel,  the  prince  who,  in  chap.  iv.  6 — 10,  was  to  be  the  builder 
of  the  house;  not,  indeed,  by  his  might  or  power,  but  "by  my 
Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  V.  6.  The  apparent  reason, 
therefore,  for  placing  both  crowns  on  one  only  of  these  two  is, 
that  it  may  be  understood  that  both  together  were  a  type  of 
Jesus,  who  unites  in  his  person  the  two  offices  of  priest  and 
king;  and  though  Joshua  is  thus  crowned  and  addressed  as  the 
type,  yet  Zerubbabel  is  not  excluded,  for  it  is  declared  that  the 
counsel  of  peace  shall  be  between  them  both.  In  the  same 
manner,  though  they  are  two  olive  branches  viewed  in  their 
separate  characters,  yet  they  are  a  type  of  one  branch  only, 
who  is  transcendenlly  called  the  branch. 

The  formal  notion,  therefore,  presented  to  us,  of  the  wit- 
nesses, (and  without  a  distinct  reference  to  which  no  interpre- 
tation of  Rev.  xi.  appears  complete,)  is  that  of  ihe  priest  and 
prince,  as  types  of  our  great  Melchizedec.  These  are  to  be 
viewed  as  endowed  withr  power  by  him  to  sustain  rule  and 
govern  in  his  Church,  as  his  representatives,  "until  he  come 
whose  right  it  is."  Included,  Jiowever,  in  this  notion,  and 
distinctly  brought  before  us  by  other  types,  are  the  whole 
Church  of  Christ,  who  are  his  temple,  (1  Cor.  iii.  16 — 17), 
who  are  a  royal  priesthood,  (see  the  whole  of  1  Pet.  ii.  4 — 9,) 
and  who  are  hereafter  to  be  manifested  in  glory,  as  those  who 
are  md,(\c  kings  and  priests  un{o  God,"  (Rev.  i.  G;  v.  10;  xx.  6.) 
This  notion,  therefore,  embraces  all  the  chief  features  which 
have  been  mentioned  as  brought  forward  by  different  exposi- 
tors. It  includes  the  spiritual  worshippers  of  God,  who  in 
every  age  have  looked  to  Christ  as  their  priest  and  king:  it 
includes  tlie  notion  of  the  priesthood  and  standing  ministry  of 
the  GospeH  (in  which  view  the  holy  Scriptures,  or  Old  and 
New  Testaments  as  some  call  them,  are  virtually  comprchend- 

VOL.   II.— 2S 


330   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

ed:)  it  includes  the  notion  of  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  Churches, 
as  more  expressly  typified  by  the  reference  to  the  olive-tree  in 
Romans  xi.:  only  they  must  be  considered  as  churches  or  po- 
lities, which  consist  of  an  intimate  union  of  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  powers, — or  church  and  state  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  term.*  And  they  are  beyond  question  the  truest  witnesses 
for  Christ,  who  "fear  God  and  honour  the  king."t 

That  the  union  of  the  prince  with  (he  priesthood,  as  a  wit- 
ness for  God,  is  justifiable,  may  be  farther  confirmed  by  the 
way  in  which  princes  are  spoken  of  in  other  parts  of  scripture. 
They  are  'Hhe  Lord's  anointed;''  and  to  lift  a  hand  against  them 
in  that  character,  or  even  to  speak  evil  of  them,  is  considered 
a  grievous  offence.  (1  Sam.  xxiv.  6,  10;  xxvi.  9,  16.  2  Sam.  i. 
14;  xix.  21.)  Even  Cyrus,  a  Gentile  king,  apparently  un- 
converted to  the  true  faith,  is  nevertheless  declared  to  be,  in 
his  regal  office,  the  Lord's  anointed.  (Isa.  xlv.  i.)  They  are 
also  olive-trees;  for  David  says,  "I  am  like  a  green  olive-tree  in 
the  house  of  God:"  (Psal.  lii.  8,)  which  saying,  though  it  may 
refer  ultimately  to  JVIessiah,  must  nevertheless  be  true,  in  the 
first  place,  of  David  himself,  as  the  type.  As  to  their  prophe- 
sying, this  is  no  more,  I  apprehend,  than  their  zvit?iessing;  and 
Daubuz,  quoting  Isa.  Iv.  4:  "I  have  given  thee  au-itness  to  the 
people,  a  leader  and  commander  to  the  people,"  the  latter 
clause  of  the  sentence^  being  explanatory  of  the  former,  ob- 
serves that  a  witness  has  rea-al  power;  and  that  "a  witness  of 
God  is  a  fleputy  with  divine  power  and  authority,  an  ordinance 
of  God  endued  with  a  regal  power;  which  title  supposes  a  re- 
sistance to  all  other  human  power  setting  up  itself  against 
God's."  This  he  confirms  by  St.  Paul's  words,  Rom.  xiii.  5, 
6. J     Besides  this,   however,  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  all 

*  Only  one  candlestick  is  seen  in  Zech.  iv.,  wliilst  there  are  two  olive-trees: 
for  there  existed  then  only  the  Jewish  church;  but  that  church  was  pre-emi- 
nently a  national  church,  protected,  fostered,  and  upheld  by  the  prince,  when 
that  prince  was  one  who  feared  God.  Hence  therefore  the  Jewish  church 
alone  required  the  tu^o  oliv-e-trees  to  symbolize  it  fully.  In  Rev.  i.  ii.  and  iii. 
we  have  the  type  of  the  Gentile  church,  set  forth  firs't  by  the  seven  candle- 
sticks, and  then  by  seven  selected  communilies  of  Asia  Minor;  and  hence, 
apparently,  is  the  reason  why,  in  Rev.  xi.  two  candlesticks  are  introduced. 

+  I  must  not  be  nnderstood  as  meaning  to  justify  the  abuse  of  power  in 
princes,  corruplion.s  in  the  priesthood,  nor  abuses  in  the  established  Church. 
Offences  will  come,  owing  to  the  fallen  nature  of  man,  and  woe  to  him  by 
whom  the  offence  cometh.  But  it  does  not  justify  our  speaking  evil  of  digni- 
ties, or  refusing  to  submit  ourselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the  Lord's 
sake.  As  well  might  children  refuse  to  obey  their  parents,  and  servants  their 
masters,  unless  all  be  "good  and  gentle."  The  true  national  witness  for  Goil 
is  in  Church  and  State;  and  though  the  beast  from  the  pit  is  made  the  instru- 
ment of  vengeance  for  their  abuse  of  power,  yet  are  his ^;r/w«/'to  infidel,  and 
opposed  to  the  majesty  of  God. 

+  Daubuz  is  the  only  commentator  I  am  acquainted  with,  who  directly  ap- 
proximates to  the  view  here  taken.  We  liave  seen  in  a  former  note,  (page 
317,)  that  he  fixes  on  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel,  Moses  and  Aaron,  Elijah  and 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  331 

the  kings  of  Israel,  previous  to  the  schism  which  caused  the 
ten  tribes  to  draw  o(T,  were  propliets.  The  Psalms  witness  for 
David's  being  so;  the  Canticles,  &.c.  for  Solomo?i.  And  as  to 
the^/-i/  king  of  Israel,  "It  became  a  proverb:  Saul  also  among 
the  projj/icts,"      (1  Sam.  x.   12;  xix.  24.) 

The  above  is  not  offered  as  a  formal  exposition  of  the  whole 
prophecy,  but  only  as  the  ground-work  or  elements  for  an  in- 
terpretation: the  remaining  particulars  it  will  not  be  diflicult 
to  make  out,  and  those  already  noticed  may  be  followed  out  to 
a  much  greater  extent. 

The  signs  of  the  times  tend  to  confirm  this  view.  I  have 
endeavoured  to  shew  in  the  former  chapter  that  tlie  last  form 
of  Antichrist  is  to  be  republican  and  infidel,  and  that  we  have 
strong  indications  in  the  present  day  of  the  increasing  preva- 
lence of  those  principles:  the  obscuration  of  the  symbolical 
sun  and  moon,  together  with  the  falling  of  the  stars,  amounts 
to  the  same  thing  as  the  death  of  the  witnesses.  When  they 
shall  be  killed,  their  enemies  will  rejoice,  "because  these  two 
prophets  tormented  ihem  that  dwelt  on  the  earth."  This  is 
already  the  loud  complaint  of  infidel  and  revolutionary  men; 
viz.  that  kings  and  priests  have  been  and  are  the  greatest  evils 
to  society, — a  torment  and  scourge  to  men.  And  especially 
that  power  which  the  state  has  exercised  (answering  to  the  fire 
proceeding  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  witnesses,  and  devouring 
their  enemies,  v.  5,) — a  power  of  inflicting  cajoital  punishment 
for  treason,  and  dealing  severely  with  blasphemy  and  sacrilege, 
— is  aimed  at  and  railed  against  by  the  seditious  and  levelling 
spirit  of  the  present  day;  and  nothing  has  caused  greater  exulta- 
tion among  men  of  revolutionary  principles,  than  when  a  mo- 
narch has  been  dethroned  or  depressed. 

It  would  be  easy  to  point  to  past  events  of  a  character  suffi- 
cient to  make  out  as  good  an  accomplishment  of  the  death  of 
these  two  witnesses,  as  any  of  those  already  pointed  to,*  (un- 

£lisha,  as  types  of  the  witnesses;  and  of  these  pairs  he  says— "One  of  these 
stood  for  the  ecclesiastical  or  religious  government,  and  the  other  for  the  civil 
state."  He  has  a  difHculty,  however,  in  proving  this  in  the  case  of  Elijah  and 
Elisha,  and  rests  it  on  the  circumstance  that  lie  could  not  have  been  priest  or 
Levilc,  from  the  fact  of  his  being  found  at  the  plough,  when  Elijah  chose  him 
for  his  companion,  (I  Kings  xix.  19,)  for  neither  priest  nor  Levile  could  have 
land.  (p.  503.)  He  should  have  said,  When  Elijah  chose  him  for  his  suc- 
cessor, rather  than  companion;  for  these  two  cannot  be  viewed  as  pairs,  in  the 
same  way  as  the  other  couples.  He  observes  of  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel,  that 
they  are  called  '■(ke  anointed  ones"  i.  e.  (he  says)  "//tc  supreme  governors  in 
Church  and  Slate;"  and  "that  in  the  case  of  the  two  witnesses  in  Rev.  xi.  3, 
the  word  Juo-ai,  I  will  give,  implies  power  and  authority."  On  their  being 
called  olive-trees,  he  says,  "Which  type  plainly  signified,  that  those  two  heads 
did  maintain  the  nation  of  the  captive  Jews,  both  as  to  their  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  state;  as  the  olive-trees,  which  afford  oil,  do  maintain  the  light  in  the 
lamps,  the  sijMolof  government." 

*  Both  church  and  king  were  overthrown   in  England  in  the  time  of  our 


332    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

less  that  of  Mr.  Elliott  be  excepted;)  but  though  these  things 
have  been  permitted  by  the  providence  of  God,  as  specimens 
of  the  coming  wrath,  I  consider  they  have  been  of  too  partial 
a  character  to  answer  to  the  scope  of  the  prophecy.  I  expect 
that  the  beast  from  the  pit  will  overthrow  all  kings  and  all 
churches  within  the  range  of  his  dominion;  previous  to  which 
they  will  be  in  a  state  of  depression  and  humiliation  cor- 
responding to  their  prophesying  in  sackcloth.  Already  is  the 
war  against  them  covertly  begun;  of  which  wc  have  unequivo- 
cal demonstrations  in  our  own  country;  not  to  mention  the 
fact,  that  we  have  already  ceased  to  be,  in  a  natiOi.al  point  of 
view,  a  Protestant  country;  and  that  so  far  as  one  branch  of  the 
legislature  is  concerned,  she  is  already  unchristianized ;  (I  allude 
to  the  bills  to  remove  disabilities  from  Roman  Catholics  and  from 
Jews;)  and  the  inco?ivenienci/  of  maintaining  a  church  establish- 
ment, now  already  complained  of,  will  be  experienced  in  a 
tenfold  degree,  should  the  latter  bill  ever  pass  into  a  law.     And 

.it  is  worthy  of  note,  that  that  warning  in  Proverbs  xxiv.  21, 
has  a  special  reference  to  the  spirit  and  the  circumstances  of 
the  last  days:  "Fret  not  thyself  because  of  evil  duers,  neither 
be  thou  envious  at  the  wicked;  for  there  shall  be  no  reward  to 
the  evil  man;  the  candle  of  the  zncked  shaU  be  put  out.  INI}' 
son,  fear  thou  the  Lord  and  the  king;  and  meddle  not  with  them 
that  are  given  to  change,:  for  their  calamity  shall  rise  suddenly, 
a7id  ztjho  knouelh  the  ruin  of  them  bolhV  (Compare  Psalm  xxxvii.) 
But — the  triumphing  of  the  wicked  will  be  short.  In  the 
midst  of  their  rage  against  the  Lord  and  against  his  anointed, 
he  will  laugh  them  to  scorn.  Though  the  powers  in  league 
with  the  beast  make  war  with  the  Lamb,  yet  the  Lamb  shall 
overcome  them;  for — He  is  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of 
KINGS,  and  they  tiiat  are  with  him  are  called,   and  chosen,  and 

faithful.     Rev.  xvii.  14. 

THE   CHRONOLOGICAL  PROPHECIES. 

1.  That  which  has  been  the  most  perplexing,  perhaps,  of  all 
to  the  student  of  prophecy,  has  been  the  great  discrepancy 
among  interpreters  in  regard  to  the  dates  fixed  upon  for  the 
commencement  of  those  prophecies  which  are  supposed  to  be 
of  long  continuance,  the  different  applications  of  portions  of 
them,  and  the  consequent  want  of  agreement  as  regards  the 
time  at  which  they  are  to  be  finally  accomplished.*     A  work 

Charles  I.,  and  both  have  been  overthrown  in  France  in  the  time  of  Louis 
XVI. 

*  Some,  as  Mr.  Faber,  &c.  think  that  Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse  contain 
periods  of  time,  running  on  in  a  regular  chronological  series  from  the  time  of 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  333 

of  the  description  now  before  the  reader  would  not  be  com- 
plete, were  it  to  take  710  notice  of  (his  matter,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  would  be  an  endless  and  futile  labour  to  attempt  to  give 
a  history  of  all  the  varying  schemes  of  those  who  have  fixed 
upon  particular  years  for  the  period  of  the  coming  of  Anti- 
christ, of  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  of  the  expira- 
tion of  the  times  of  the  Gentiles,  the  destruction  of  Babylon, 
the  cleansing  the  sanctuary,  or  any  other  of  tliose  notable 
events  contained  in  the  prophetic  portion  of  God's  word. 
They  are  for  the  most  part  refuted  by  the  event;  and  the  au- 
thors of  the  respective  systems  advocated  are  either  fallen  into 
oblivion,  or  are  only  referred  to  on  account  of  the  value  at- 
tached to  those  intrinsic  principles  of  interpretation  which 
exist  in  their  writings,  and  which  are  still  useful  in  i-espect  to 
certain  parliculars  of  prophecy,  independent  of  the  system 
which  they  may  have  respectively  advocated  as  a  whole.* 

Great  however  as  have  been  the  different  opinions  on  these 
points,  they  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  weigh  with  the  dis- 
creet and  scriptural  inquirer,  so  as  to  prejudice  him  against  all 
examination  of  the  systems  of  former  interpreters;  still  less 
ought  they  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  lliese  dates  are  in  no 
wise  to  be  understood.  They  are  inserted  in  the  prophecies 
by  the  Autlior  of  those  prophecies  himself;  and  we  cannot 
reasonably  question  that  they  are  intended,  like  all  other  por- 
tions of  scripture,  to  be  of  service  to  the  Church  of  God  at 
some  particular  period  of  its  history;  and  therefore  for  any  to 
set  their  faces  upon  principle  against  all  attempts  to  interpret 
them,  would  be  to  encourage  the  Church  of  Christ  to  despise 


ibe  prophecy,  or  some  previous  event  supposed  to  be  alluded  to,  down  to  the 
end  of  lime;  to  which  calendar  all  ihe  events  of  these  prophecies  are  to  be 
referred  and  placed  in  their  chronolo;2:ical  order  or  place.  But  others,  as 
Daubuz,  think  there  is  no  perpetual  line  of  time  or  chronological  series;  but 
that  we  find  therein  only  .some  special  events  whose  duration  is  specified;  and 
that  we  must  therefore  expect  to  find  several  intermediate  spaces  of  time,  which 
arc  not  determined  by  any  symbol. 

*  The  reader  who  has  a  desire  for  entering  into  these  discrepancies  will  find 
the  folhnving  Ibrmidablearray  of  different  dates  brought  forward  by  Calmet  (a 
Roman  Catholic  writer)  which  have  been  assigned  by  difierent  exposit(jrs  for 
the  rising  of  Antichrist.  Arnand  de  Villeneuve  1326.  Francis  Melet  1530  or 
1540,  John  of  Paris  15G0,  Cardinal  de  Cnsa  1730  or  1734,  Peter  D'Aillc  1789, 
Jerora  Cardan  1800,  and  John  Pico  of  Mirandolo  1994.  Bcngel  also  notices 
the  following  years,  as  being  period.s  which  were  immedialoly  preceded  by  a 
great  expectation  that  the  world  would  come  to  an  end;  (but  thi'^  expectation 
existed  without  any  adequate  cause,)  viz.  1288,  1388,  1488,  1588,  and  1GG6. 
Pref.  p.  311.  The  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitland  gives  us  the  following  dates  which 
liave  been  fixed  upon  for  the  termination  of  the  12(10  vears  of  Dan.  vii.  viz. 
1G.50,  1G.55,  1G70,  168G,  1G91,  1G97,  171G,  173G,  &c.  Reply  to  Cuninghame,  p. 
113.  And  in  his  "Reply  to  a  Review  in  the  Morning  Waich"  he  adduces 
various  instances  from  modern  writers,  who  differ  from  each  other  in  regard 
to  important cjevents  which  thev  fix  the  accomplishment  of  as  follows:  1843, 
18GG.  1873,  18S8,  1917,  1920,2000. 
38* 


334   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

one  of  the  great  beacons  which  her  Lord  has  given  to  her.  It 
has  been  shown,  in  a  former  chapter,  that  they  were  evidently 
intended  to  be  sealed  up  from  certain  ages  and  generations  of 
the  Ciiurch:  they  are  as  clearly  to  be  opened  and  understood 
in  the  generation  for  which  they  are  written.  Whether  that 
is  yet  "a  generation  to  come,''  or  they  have  been  already 
opened,  or  are  now  opening,  may  admit  of  question;  though  I 
am  decidedly  of  opinion,  notwithstanding  the  diversity  of  ex- 
positions, that  the  Lord  has  been  opening  them  to  the  Church 
ever  since  the  era  of  the  Protestant  Reformation, — since  which 
period  it  is  that  the  mindsof  Christians  have  been  mo'-e  intensely 
turned  upon  prophecy,  and  these  different  interpretations  have 
appeared.  This  is  no  more  than  what  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  human  nature,  and  the  character  of  the  events  to 
which  the  prophecies  are  supposed  to  relate.  The  Reforma- 
tion necessarily  opened  men's  eyes  in  a  great  .measure  to  the 
past;  and  it  was  accompanied  and  succeeded  by  events  of  no 
ordinary  character,  bearing  upon  tlie  future  destinies  of  the 
Church.  This  is  still  more  remarkably  the  case  in  respect  to 
the  French  Revolution;  and  when  therefore  we  consider  the 
proneness  of  mankind  to  magnify  the  importance  of  the  times 
in  which  they  tliemselvcs  live,  and  of  believers  more  espe- 
cially to  anticipate  that  crisis  of  events  which  they  are  desiring, 
it  is  no  wonder  if  they  have  misplaced  circumstances  which, 
after  all,  may  prove  decidedly  to  belong  to  the  great  chain  of 
incidents  ultimately  to  be  embraced  in  a  sound  and  proper  in- 
terpretation. The  nature  of  the  case  would  farther  lead  one 
to  expect,  in  regard  to  events  extending  over  a  large  period  of 
history,  some  of  the  more  important  of  which  are  crowded 
into  the  latter  times  of  it,  that  whilst  some  interpreters  might 
be  led  too  eagerly  to  adopt  an  event  as  predicted  in  the  word 
of  God,  or  to  misplace  one  really  predicted,  in  order  to  make 
it  comply  with  an  erroneous  chronological  system;  other  in- 
terpreters would  more  carefully  compare  anci  examine  events 
with  the  prophecy,  and  by  the  principles  of  a  judicious  criti- 
cism be  led  to  reject  some  events,  and  more  correctly  to  define 
llie  features  of  others,  and  to  fix  thein  to  their  right  places. 
In  this  undertaking  it  is  evident  that  the  more  modern  inter- 
preters must  have  a  decided  advantage;  inasmuch  as  they  not 
only  avail  themselves  of  the  criticisms  and  discoveries  of  their 
earlier  brethren,  but  are  likewise  warned  by  tlieir  errors,  and 
are  materially  assisted  by  that  greater  developcment  of  events 
which  the  lapse  of  time  is  continually  producing. 

One  farther  argument,  in  reference  to  the  discrepancy  in  the 
periods  assigned,  may  be  noticed  in  this  place,  viz.  that  there 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.  335 

exists  much  difference  of  ojMnion  in  regard  to  a  period  which 
all  learned  men  agree  lias  long  since  been  fulfilled.  I  allude 
to  the  piophec}-  ol"  the  Scvenli/  IVec/cs,  which  was  to  be  dated 
from  tlie  going  forth  of  a  certain  decree  to  rebuild  Jerusalem. 
But,  as  has  been  already  noticed,  (p.  320,)  there  were  four  de- 
crees; and  those  who  lived  during  the  time  whilst  the  490 
years  were  running  out,  could  not  a  priori  be  certain  ichich  of 
the  four  commandments  issued  by  the  kings  of  Persia  it  was 
to  be  dated  from,  thougii  they  might  justly  have  assumed  that 
it  must  be  from  one  of  them;  and  any  difference  of  opinion, 
thei'efore,  arising  from  all  four  periods  having  been  fixed  upon, 
would  be  no  sufficient  reason  for  discarding  every  one  of  the 
hypotbeses  built  thereon,  as  if  all  must  be  equally  erroneous. 
The  two  first  decrees  by  Cyrus  and  Darius  appeared  the  most 
likely  to  be  the  real  ones:  but  the  first  passed  away  forti/six 
years  before  Christ,  and  the  latter  hcenlij-eighl  years  before,  and 
yet  he  appeared  not.  It  was  between  the  period  of  the  expi- 
ration of  the  second  and  third  edicts  that  his  birth  took  place; 
and  it  now  appears,  that  it  is  from  the  third,  issued  in  the 
seventh  year  of  Artaxerxes,  that  it  was  really  to  be  calculated, 
and  not  from  that  of  the  ln-ejitieth  year  of  Artaxerxes;  so  that 
even  during  the  life  of  our  Saviour,  the  period  was  not  eluci- 
dated with  absolute  exactness.  Yea,  it  is  not  without  diffi- 
culty even  now:  as  may  be  seen  by  the  various  attempts  (no- 
ticed by  Dr.  Prideaux)  for  reconciling  the  expiration  of  this 
period  with  the  circumstances  of  the  death  of  Christ.* 

If  then  this  perplexity  occur  in  a  prophecy  which  all  admit 
to  have  been  fulfilled,  how  much  more  ought  we  patiently  to 
wait  the  result  of  the  hypotheses  concerning  f)eriods  not  yet 
fully  accomplished.  Even  writers  of  history  are  not  fully 
agreed  as  to  the  dates  of  some  important  events.  Take  the 
Prolesta7it  Reforriialion  foy  example,  which  has  been  variously 
dated  from  the  time  of  Wickliffe,  Luther,  Henry  VIII,  the 
Smalcaldic  League,  Edward  VI,  &c.  But  were  it  to  be  ad- 
vanced as  an  argument  drawn  from  this  discrepancy,  that  no 
Reformation  had  actually  taken  place  at  all,  we  should  at  once 
reject  the  argument  as  absurd. 

2.  Passing  on  to  the  chronological  periods  themselves,  that 
which  is  of  principal  importance  is  the  1260  years — mentioned 
by  Daniel  and  St.  John,  under  various  forms  of  expression,  no 

*  These  are  of  such  a  character,  that  a  modern  writer  on  prophecy  has 
imagined  each  week  to  be  a  Jubilee  of  years;  and  that  Messiah,  instead  of 
being  cut  off  at  the  end  of  the  (J9  weeks,  cuts  off  his  enemies.  See  an  article 
by  Maramensis,  \x\v.  vol.  ii.p.  121.  Another  writer  has  adopted  the  expedient 
of  separating;  the  69  weeks  from  the  one  remaining  week  by  a  hiatus  of  up- 
wards of  18(Hl,years! 


336  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

less  than  seve?i  times.*  This  period  relates  to  the  manifesta- 
tion and  duration  of  the  Little  Horn,  which,  it  has  been  al- 
ready shewn  (p.  276,  &c. )  is,  by  the  generality  of  modern 
interpreters  understood  to  be  the  papacy.  A  similar  concur- 
rence will  be  found  to  exist  among  the  more  eminent  exposi- 
tors of  the  present  day,  in  fixing  the  period  of  this  rise  to  the 
year  of  our  Lord  533. t  Mr.  Cuninghame,  who  ably  vindicates 
this  date,  adopts  it  f5r  the  following  reasons.  He  first  lays 
down  as  a  proposition,  that  the  conimencenie?it  of  the  1260  years 
is  to  he  marked  by  the  givifig  the  saints  a?id  times  arid  laws  (of  the 
church)  into  the  hands  of  the  little  horn,  (On  the  Apoc.  3rd  edi- 
tion, p.  256.)  And  he  next  adopts  the  axiom  of  Mr.  Faber, 
that  the  giving  tlic  saints  into  the  hands  of  the  papacy  must  be 
by  some  formal  act  of  the  secular  power  of  the  empire,  consti- 
tuting the  pope  to  be  the  head  of  the  church.  He  therefore 
fixes  upon  the  year  533,  in  which,  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Justinian,  by  an  act  of  the  secular  government  of  the  empire, 
the  Roman  Pontiff  was  thus  acknowledged.  The  emperor  first 
issued  a  decree  defining  his  own  faith,  especially  in  the  article 
that  the  virgin  Mary  was  the  mother  of  God,  (thus  publicly 
avouching  the  principles  of  demonolatry ;)  and  he  required  all 
his  subjects  to  conform  to  it  under  penalty  to  the  disobedient, 
and  to  their  children,  of  the  confiscation  of  their  property. 
He  then  submits  this  edict  to  the  pope,  and  in  the  epistle  which 
accompanies  it  he  styles' him,  the  acknoiiiedged  head  of  all  the 
churches,  and  all  the  holy  priests  of  God,  and  desires  his  approba- 
tion of  what  he  had  done.  This  was  given  by  the  pope  in  the 
following  year;  and  consequently  we  have  here,  in  the  view 
of  those  interpreters  who  adopt  this  date,  the  civil  power 
usurping  the  authority  of  Christ,  and  issuing  blasphemous 
things  against  God;  and  the  two-horned  beast  of  Rev.  xiii. 
now  rising  up  out  of  the  earth,  (answering  also  to  the  little 
horn  of  the  ten-horned  beast  in  Dan.  vii.)  is  evidently  prepared 
to  play  into  his  hands  and  to  cause  men  to  worship  the  beast. 
The  epistle  of  the  pope  in  reply  bears  date  March  534;  and 
immediately  after  this,  Justinian,  in  an  edict  addressed  to  the 
proefect  of  Africa,  invokes  the  virgin  Mary,  thus  giving  public 

*  It  is  mentioned  as  three  limd;  and  a  half,  i2mo7iihs,  and  12G0  days,  which, 
calculating  by  lunar  time,  will  all  agree.  See  Dan.  vii.  25,  and  Rev.  xi.  2,  3; 
xii.  (),  14,  and  xiii.  5.  Mr.  Habershon  notices  that  three  distinct  events  are 
mentioned  in  connection  with  these  three  iorms  of  expression;  viz.  the  first 
having  respect  to  popery  as  it  appears  under  the  actual  dominion  of  the  pope 
himself; — ihe  second  to  ihc  tyrannical  dotninions  of  the  ten  papal  kingdom.s; — 
the  third  to  the  depressed  condition  of  the  church  of  Christ. 

t  The  names  of  Cuninghame,  Frere,  Irving,  Keith,  Habershon,  and  many 
others  have  sanctioned  this  date.  Mr.  Faber  likewise  adopted  it  in  the  former 
editions  of  his  Sacred  Calendar,  but  has  abandoned  it  in  the  last  edition,  for  a 
reason  which  will  presently  be  noticed. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    337 

evidence  that  the  faith  of  the  head  of  the  empire,  to  which  all 
his  subjects  were  required  to  conform,  was  not  only  blasphe- 
mous but  denionolatrous.  Finally,  all  tlie  preceding  acts  of 
Justinian  for  establishing  a  secular  and  ecclesiastical  supremacy 
in  the  church  (including  also  a  letter  to  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  which  the  above  titles  were  likewise  given  to 
the  pope,)  were  inserted  in  the  volume  of  the  Civil  Law,  pub- 
lished by  Justinian,  which  became  the  basis  of  the  jurispru- 
dence of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  western  empire.* 

At  the  termination  of  the  1260  years  of  the  tyranny  of  the 
Little  Horn  the  ancient  of  days  sits,  and  the  judgment  com- 
mences which  consumes  and  destroys  him:  and  12G0  years 
from  A.  D.  533  brings  us  down  to  the  French  Revolution 
1792-3.  From  which  circumstance,  as  Mr.  Cuninghame  de- 
cidedly considers  this  to  have  been  the  period  when  judgment 
commenced  upon  the  papal  power,  he  adduces  it  as  an  argu- 
ment a  posteriori  for  adopting  the  year  533  as  that  of  the  rise 
of  the  beast:  maintaining  that  argument  backward  from  the 
period  of  the  break-up  of  his  power,  so  manifestly  occurring 
at  that  time,  we  are  necessarilv  brought  back  to  the  time  of 

T  •       •  -  O 

Justinian. 

Tiiere  is  likewise  another  event  wdiich  leads  to  the  same 
date:  the  ihrce  li7nes  a?id  a  half  are  with  a  high  degree  of  pro- 
bability supposed  to  be  a  moiety  of  seven  times,  which  seven 
times  are  further  supposed  to  be  "the  times  of  the  Gentiles," 
i.  e.  the  limes  of  Gentile  domination  over  Israel.  Mr.  Cun- 
inghame dates  this  fro.m  b.  c.  72S,  when  Israel  became  tribu- 
tary to  Assyria,  and  were  very  soon  after  led  into  captivity, 
and  when  the  Assyria-Babylonian  empire  likewise  began  to 
obtain  that  universal  sovereignty  which  is  ascribed  to  it  in  the 
vision.  The  bisecting  point  of  the  seven  times,  dated  from 
728  B.  c.  is  A.  D.  533.t   . 

*  Mr.  Cuninghame,  who  notices  these  matters  (Crit.  Examination  of  Faber, 
p.  90.)  slates  also  that  the  previous  edicts  of  Gratian  and  Valentin'ian  the  iii. 
on  which  Mr.  Faber  lays  emphasis,  are  not  to  be  found  in  that  volume;  a  dis- 
tinction which  he  thinks  of  a  very  prominent  character  between  the  two  Ibrmer 
edicts  and  that  of  Justinian,  as  to  their  becoming  the  settled  and  ultimate  law 
of  the  empire. 

+  It  has  already  been  observed  that  Mr.  Faber  formerly  advocated  the  view 
of  Mr.  Cuninghame,  (which  Mr.  Cuninghame,  indeed,  in  some  measure  de- 
rived from  him,)  but. that  in  a  subsequent  edition  of  his  work  he  has  departed 
from  it.  He  has  adopted  instead,  the  period  of  the  ten  Gothic  kingdoms  una- 
nimously recognizing  the  papal  supremacy.  The  abandonment  of  the  year 
533  by  Mr.  Faber,  appears  to  be  in  consequence  of  its  being  necessary  to  adapt 
the  1200  years,  with  the  other  parts  of  his  exposition,  to  a  new  principle 
adopted  in  his  scheme;  the  object  of  which  is  evidently  to  prevent  his  readers 
from  coming  to  the  conclusion  (which  was  inevitable  in  his  former  editions,) 
that  the  second  advent  of  Christ  is  premillennial.  But  he  is  singularly  incon- 
sistent in  marhtalning  his  new  views:  he  considers  that  the  point  of  time,  from 
which  the  1200  years  are  to  be  calculated,  is  the  completion  of  the  great  demo- 


338    ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

It  is  important  however  to  observe,  in  regard  to  the  epistle 
of  Justinian,  in  which  he  constitutes  the  pope  the  head  of  the 
church,  that  certain  passages  of  it,  particularly  those  which 
are  to  the  point  in  hand,  are  called  in  question  by  Comber,  in 
his  work  on  the  "Forgeries  of  the  Councils,"  p.  251,  who 
declares  them  to  be  spurious.  His  reasonings,  however,  are 
by  no  means  conclusive.  For  he  argues  on  the  improbahililij 
of  the  emperor's  having  thus  constituted  the  pope  head  of  all 
the  churches  (including  of  course  those  of  the  eastern  empire;) 
whereas  it  appears  from  other  documents,  as  the  Novels  of 
Justinian,  (nov.  131,  ch.  2.)  that  he  really  did  consider  the 
pope  pre-eminent,  however  plausible  the  reasoning  of  Comber 
may  be  in  the  abstract.* 

3.  In  reference  to  the  chronological  system  of  Mr.  Cuning- 
hame,  viewed  as  a  whole,  it  has  been  urged  against  it  that  he 
departs  from  what  is  supposed  (b)'  those  who  make  the  objec- 
tion) to  be  the  obvious  order  and  structure  of  the  Apocalypse 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  Seals,  Trumpets  and  Vials.     Thus 

nolatrous  apostacy  of  the  Christian  church,  and  the  removal  of  that  particular 
impedivient  ichich  hindered  the  manifestation  of  the  Man  of  Sin.  This  impedi- 
ment he  considers  was  "the  coercing  power  of  the  coercing  law  of  the  Roman 
empire."  The  first  step  in  the  progress  of  its  removal  he  states  was  the  Em- 
peror Constantine's  withdrawing  his  presence  from  Rome,  and  constituting 
Byzantium  the  capital  of  his  empire — "by  which  he  gave  the  Roman  bishop 
space  for  expansion:  whilst  the  ample  immunities  and  privileges  which  he 
received  from  succeeding  em[^erors  were  plainly  no  other  than  a  removal  of 
the  coercing  power,  so  far  as  it  was  exercised  by  the  imperial  head."  He  then 
shews,  that  certain  of  these  privileges  and  immunities  were  conferred  by  the 
edict  of  Gratian  and  Valeniinian  II.  a.  d.  378;  that  then  followed  another  edict 
of  Theodosius  II.  and  Valentinian  III.  a.  d.  445;  and  next  he  comes  down  to 
the  identical  decree  of  Justinian,  533,  constituting  the  pope  head  of  all  the 
churches,  and  directing  that  all  ecclesiastical  business  should  be  laid  before 
him;  and  declares,  "  Thus  v-as  the  coercing  poicer  removed,  so  far  as  it  was  exer- 
cised by  the  head  of  the  empire.'''  Sac.  Cal.  vol.  i.  p.  153,  and  a  Review  of  Faber 
in  the  Investigator,  vol.  iv.  p.  303.  He  attempts  nevertheless  to  carry  the 
period  down  to  a  later  date,  by  showing  that  all  the  ten  kingdoms  of  the  West- 
ern empire  did  not  as  yet  submit  to  the  Pope's  authority.  The  insufficiency 
and  inconsistency  of  his  reasons  for  this  may  be  seen  in  the  same  Review,  and 
in  Mr.  Cuninghame's  Critical  Examination. 

It  is  also  now  objected  by  Mr.  Faber,  that  the  decree  of  Justinian  in  regard 
to  the  western  Empire,  which  was  the  seat  of  the  papacy,  had  no  more  autho- 
rity than  a  piece  of  waste  paper;  forasmuch  as  that  emperor  had  no  power 
over  it  at  the  time  of  its  promulgation.  Mr.  Habershon  however  says,— "The 
Empire  of  the  West  being  extinguished,  he,  as  sole  remaining  emptror  of  the 
Roman  vwrld — as  conqueror  (by  means  of  his  generals  Belisarius  and  Narses) 
of  the  Arian  nations  of  the  West,  &c. — was  undoubtedly  the  legitimate  autho- 
rity for  regulating  the  ecclcsins/iii/l  nnirrrns  of  the  whole  empire.''^  P.  21.  And 
Mr.  Faber  admits  above,  win  n  |niisning  another  point,  that  Justinian  did 
constitute  the  pope  head  of  nil  Ihr  i-luirckcs,  and  direct  that  all  ecclesiastical  bu- 
siness should  he  laid  before  him,  &c." 

*  The  whole  reasoning  of  Comber  may  be  seen  in  Mr.  Bickersteth's  "Prac- 
tical Guide,"  or  in  the  Investigator,  vol.  iv.  A  searching  reply  to  it  may  like- 
wise be  found  in  the  preface  to  Mr.  Cuninghame's  last  published  work — "The 
Fulness  of  the  Times,"  &c.  to  which  works  the  reader  who  desires  to  inves- 
tigate this  matter  is  referred. 


ELEMENTS  OP  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    339 

the  writer  of  the  series  of  interesting  and  able  Essays  on  Pro- 
phecy in  the  Christian  Guardian  for  1830,  which  already  have 
been  adverted  to,  says — <'VVe  shrink  from  all  interpretations 
which  tell  us  that  although  St.  John,  according  lo  the  ordinary 
meaning  of  his  language,  represents  the  opening  of  the  seventh 
seal  to  be  the  signal  for  the  sounding  of  the  seven  trumpets, — 
yet  that  in  fact  these  trumpets  began  to  sound  many  centuries 
before  the  opening  of  the  seventh,  or  even  of  the  sixth  seal." 
(p.  369.)  Certainly  the  view  which  appears,  at  first  sight,  to 
present  itself  to  the  reader  of  the  Apocalypse  is,  that  the 
seventh  seal  contains,  the  seven  trumpets,  which  do  not  begin 
to  sound  until  the  seventh  seal  is  opened;  and  that  the  seventh 
trumpet,  in  like  manner,  contains  the  seven  vials,  which  are 
none  of  them  poured  out  until  the  seventh  trumpet  has  sounded. 
This  principle  is  followed  by  JMede,  Newton,  Whiston,  Faber 
and  others,  excepting  that  in  the  diagrams  to  some  of  the  later 
editions  of  Mode  he  makes  six  of  the  vials  to  be  poured  out 
during  the  sounding  of  the  sixth  trumpet,  and  the  seventh  vial 
only  at  the  sounding  of  the  seventh.  Mr.  Cuninghame,  however, 
makes  the  series  of  the  trumpets  begin,  (so  far  as  the  chrono- 
logical order  of  tliem  is  concerned,)  and  four  of  them  to  have 
sounded,  between  the  opening  of  the  second  and  third  seals; 
and  he  fixes  the  opening  of  the  sixth  seal  and  the  sounding  of 
the  seventh  trumpet  to  a.  d.  1792.  Mr.  Frere  also  deviates 
from  the  principle  just  adverted  to,  and  makes  the  Seals  and 
Trumpets  run  nearl}^  in  two  parallel  streams;  the  first  seal  and 
trumpet  beginning  in  the  fourth  century,  and  the  last  begin- 
ning each  of  thcni  in  1792,  at  which  time  also  he  dates  the 
effusion  of  the  first  vial.  Weighty  reasons  are  adduced  by 
both  these  writers  for  deviating  froni  what  appears  to  be  the 
obvious  construction;  which  reasons  ought  not  to  be  discarded 
without  due  consideration.  At  the  same  time  the  order  con- 
tended for  by  the  writer  in  the  Christian  Guardian  appears  the 
most  natural  and  free  from  complexity,  and  he  consequently 
proposes  to  read  the  entire  Apocalypse  "consecutively  as  one 
harmonious  whole,  and  as  a  connected  and  well-arranged  nar- 
rative, only  broken  by  one  or  two  episodes,  which  are  intro- 
duced for  the  most  necessary  purposes."  He  accordingly 
advances  an  interpretation  of  the  book  conformable  with  this 
proposition,  for  the  particulars  of  which  I  must  refer  to  that 
volume  of  the  periodical  before  named. 

\.  One  other  circumstance  affecting  the  arrangement  and 
interpretation  of  the  chronological  projjhecies  remains  to  be 
noticed,  and  that  of  considerable  importance.  It  is  contained 
in  the  dissertation  of  Mr.  Ilabershon  on  the  "Prophetic  Scrip- 
tures."    His   principal   proceeding   is,   to   examine    into    the 


340  ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

peculiarities  of  those  chronological  periods  mentioned  in  the 
Old  Testament,  which  are  avowedly  fulfilled.  In  the  first  of 
those  which  he  examines,  viz.  the  sojournincr  of  the  children 
of  Israel  and  their  affliction  in  Egypt, — he  discovers  the  fol- 
lowing particulars:  viz.  first,  that  two  durations  are  assigned  to 
it;*  secondly,  that  their  commencement  is  at  separate  periods; 
but,  thirdly,  that  they  have  one  common  termination;  fourthly, 
that  the  exact  time  of  their  commencement  could  not  have 
been  known  with  certainty  until  after  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt;  and  lastly,  that  the  period  of  commencement  was  in 
neither  instance  from  the  time  when  the  prophecy  was  given. 
The  Babylonish  captivity  of  seventy  years  is  also  shown  to 
have  been  a  lu-ofuld  period,  viz.  from  the  captivity  of  Judah  in 
Babylon  by  Nebuchadnezzar  to  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  b.  c.  606 
to  536;  and  from  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar to  the  decree  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  b.  'c.  5SS  to  518.1 
There  are  other  chronological  periods  noticed  in  the  work, 
with  their  respective  peculiarities;  but  the  two  just  instanced 
are  the  most  important,  and  afford  a  sufficient  specimen  of  the 
whole.  It  will  be  evident  to  the  judicious  student  of  the  word 
of  God,  that  what  w^e  find  to  be  the  character  of  the  fulfilled 
periods  of  God's  word  may,  by  a  just  analogy,  be  transferred 
to  the  unfulfilled;  and  that  if,  as  regards  the  last  of  the  in- 
stances above  cited,  in  ap  event  whicli  is  unquestionably  a  type 
of  the  Church's  spiritual  deliverance  from  Babylon,  there  were 
clearly  two  commencements  and  two  terminations  of  the  pre- 
dicted period  of  captivity,  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  apply- 
ing the  above  principles  to  its  a?ililijpe,  viz.  to  that  more  re- 
markable deliverance  of  the  same  people  which  is  yet  to  take 
place  from  their  last  and  heaviest  captivity.  Indeed  it  may  be 
that  all  the  unfulfilled  periods  will  be  found  to  partake  more  or 
less  of  the  peculiarities  of  those  which  are  fulfilled;  and  if  this 
be  the  case,  then  Mr.  Habershon  will  iiave  been  led  to  furnish 
the  church  with  a  principle  of  interpretation  by  which  many 
of  the  conflicting  dates  and  epochs  adduced  by  different  exposi- 
tors may  after  all  be  reconciled;  and  it  will  be  found,  (as  with 
many  other  truths  of  divine  revelation,  when  they  come  to  be 
understood,)  that  what  appears  now  to  be  perplexed  and  con- 
tradictory, only  requires  the  right  clue  to  be  found,  in  order 
to  digest  and  arrange  them  in  their  proper  places.  J 

*  In  Gen.  xv.  12 — 14,  and  Acts  vii.  (">,  7,  it  is  declared  to  be  400  years;  in 
Exodus  and  Gal.  iii.  17,  it  is  declared  to  be  430  years.  The  former  period  is 
dated  from  b.  c.  1921,  and  the  latter  b.  c.  1891,  and  both  terminate  b.  c.  1491. 

t  The  reconcilement  of  the^e  two  periods  may  be  seen  in  Prideaux's  Con- 
nections, Vol.  i.  p.  254. 

t  Whiston  has  lon<?  since  conjectured  that  the  1290  and  1335  years  men- 
tioned in  Daniel  xii.  have  a  different  commencement  from  the  1260  years,  and 


ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION.    341 

5.  In  conclusion,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  there  are  two 
methods  by  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  make  known  to  his 
Church,  when  he  purposes  to  accomplish  a  prophecy.  The 
one  is  by  assigning  an  event  as  the  epoch  from  which  a  certain 
period  of  time  is  to  be  reckoned,  (as  in  the  instances  just  con- 
sidered,) which  time  is  to  elapse  before  that  which  is  more 
especially  the  subject  of  promise  is  to  come  to  pass.  The  other 
is  by  a  delineation  of  certain  characleristics, — moral,  political, 
and  otherwise, — which  shall  signalize  the  time,  when  the  thing 
foretold  is  about  to  be  accomplished.  These  characteristics 
are  abundantly  scattered  throughout  the  old  and  New  Testa- 
ments: and  as  they  are  within  the  observation  and  comprehen- 
sion of  every  individual,  learned  or  unlearned,  who  can  but 
read  the  word  of  God,  or  hearken  when  it  is  read;  so  doubt- 
less all  will  be  rebuked  who  do  not  give  heed  to  the  signs  of 
the  times,  and  are  not  by  them  led  to  trim  their  lamps  and 
gird  up  their  loins,  and  be  found  in  the  posture  of  watchfulness 
for  their  Lord.  The  limits  of  the  present  volume  do  not  per- 
mit my  entering  upon  the  direct  exposition  of  any  of  those 
prophecies  which  bear  directly  on  the  characteristics  of  our 
Lord's  advent  being  at  hand.*  All  I  can  say  in  this  place  is, 
that  I  am  most  firmly  persuaded  that  we  are  living  in  that 
awful  period  designated  in  Scripture  as  the  last  time,  and  the  last 
days.  Every  succeeding  year  serves  to  increase  the  evidence 
on  this  head,  and  to  give  clearness  and  precision  and  intensity 
to  those  signs  which  already  have  been  noticed  by  commen- 
tators. Even  worldly  men  are  so  affected  by  some  of  the 
signs  of  our  times,  as  to  feel  seriously  persuaded  that  some 
tremendous  crisis  is  at  hand.  It  therefore  more  especially  be- 
hoves the  professing  people  of  God  to  be  upon  the  watch- 
tower,  and  to  observe  what  is  passing  around  them,  and  be 
prepared  for  the  future,  that  that  day  may  not  overtake  them 
as  a  thief  in  the  night. 

The  signs  of  the  times,  though  they  will  not  inforni  us  of 
the  day  and   the  hour,  and   perhaps  not  of  the  year,  of  our 


therefore  are  iiulcpendent  periods;  and  also  that  there  are  two  independent 
periods  of  TJOO  years.  But  iiis  conjectures  are  not  rested  on  any  scriptural 
basis.  Mr.  Fuijer  also  maives,  in  the  last  edition  ol'  his  work,  the  1-290  years 
and  the  I'.Vio  years  to  be  distinct  periods;  but  instead  of  their  following  each 
other  by  successive  intervals,  as  they  apparently  do  in  the  Scriptures,  he  dates 
the  1290  years  from  a.  d.  70,  the  1260  years  fr,  m  a.  d.  C04,  and  the  1335' years 
from  18(il.  and  to  terminate  a.  d.  3199!  Mr.  Haberhhon  has  at  least  the  credit 
of  scriptural  analogy  for  what  he  advances;  ihouph,  how  far  he  makes  a  cor- 
rect use  of  it,  in  his  application  of  the  subject  to  the  unfulfilled  prophecies,  is 
another  c|iu."siion.  His  work,  however,  will  be  found  in  many  respects  well 
worthy  of  perusal,  and  is  among  itie  best  modern  treatises  on  prophecy. 

*  The  Reader  who  is  desirous  of  information  on  these  points  will  find  seve- 
ral of  them  noticed  in  the  "Essays  of  AUliel,"  page  121 — 144. 
VOL.  II. — 29 


342   ELEMENTS  OF  PROPHETICAL  INTERPRETATION. 

Lord's  advent,  will  nevertheless  afford  an  unequivocal  demon- 
stration that  it  is  at  hand.  Not  that  I  would  be  thought  to 
undervalue  the  chronological  marks:  they  are  perhaps  the  most 
valuable  notices  when  correctly  understood,  and  will  doubtless 
serve  to  fix  the  period  with  greater  precision,  though  perhaps 
not  with  the  exactness  which  some  expect.  The  more  pro- 
phecy is  studied  us  a  ivholc,  with  the  rest  of  Scripture,  the 
more  will  it  serve  to  confirm  the  faith  and  animate  the  hope  of 
the  believer.  Each  fresh  discovery  of  its  meaning,  each  fresh 
or  more  complete  accomplishment  of  its  promises,  yea  even 
the  rectification  of  formerly-indulged  errors,  will  tend  greatly 
to  encourage  and  establish  him.  I  have  adverted  with  dis- 
approbation more  than  once  in  the  course  of  this  volume  to 
the  work  of  an  able  writer  on  the  subject;  I  am  happy  how- 
ever in  being  able  to  illustrate  my  last  remark  by  a  quotation 
from  his  work  which  I  admire  and  approve: — 

"Time,  which  wears  out  and  destroys  almost  every  thing 
else,  only  contributes  to  stamp  the  value  and  to  augment  the 
influence  of  tlie  benefits  of  Propliecy.  Like  wine,  it  improves 
by  age,  and  acquires  with  it  not  merely  ripeness  and  maturity, 
but  also  excellence  and  strength.  It  is  therefore  from  this  cir- 
cumstance alone  possessed  of  amazing  powers:  it  is  a  motion 
continually  accelerated:  it  is  a  weight  perpetually  descending, 
and  therefore  constantly  increasing  its  force  and  impulse  as  it 
descends."  (Whitley's  Scheme  of  Prophecy,  p.  52.) 


APPENDIX 


I. 

In  reference  to  Note  1,  on  page  227,  respecting  the  meaning 
of  the  term  Babylon  in  1  Peter  v.  13,  (which  the  Reader  is 
requested  to  turn  to,  and  again  peruse,)  I  have  since  received 
an  interesting  communication  from  the  Rev.  R.  Rabett,  in  re- 
ply to  some  queries  which  I  forwarded  to  him  respecting  his 
assertion,  that  Babylon  was  destroyed  many  ages  before  the 
Apocalypse  was  given,  and  which  reply  I  have  his  permission 
,  to  make  use  of. 

"My  reasons  for  affirming,  that  the  literal  '-Babylon  the 
Great,''  on  the  Euphrates,  was  destroyed  many  ages  before  St. 
John  wrote  his  Revelation,  are  founded  upon  the  inspired  tes- 
timony of  Daniel  concerning  Belsliazzar,  the  king  of  Babylon, 
in  his  interpretation  of  the  hand-writing  upon  the  plaister  of 
the  wall  of  the  king's  palace.  "And  this  is  the  writing  that 
was  written,  Mene,  Mene,  Tekel,  Upharsin.  This  is  the 
interpretation  of  the  thing:  Mene;  God  hath  numbered  thy 
kingdom,  and  finished  it.. ..Peres;  thy  kingdom  is  divided, 

and  GIVEN   to  the  Medes  and  Persians In  that  7iight  was 

Belshazzar,  the  king  of  the  Chaldeans,  slain;  and  Darius,  the 
Median,  took  the  kingdom,  being  about  threescore  and  two 
years  old. "...."Daniel  prospered  in  the  Reis^n  of  Darius, 
(the  Median,)  and  in  the  Reign  of  Cyrus,  ihe  Persian."  Thus 
were  the  words  of  this,  and  a  collateral  prophecy  of  Jeremiah, 
fulfilled  in  respect  of  the  downfall  of  Babylon  the  Great.  Jere- 
miah foretels  the  suddenness  of  the  event  in  these  words.* 
"Flee  out  of  the  midst  oF  Babylon,  and  deliver  every  man  his 
soul;  be  not  cut  off  in  her  iniquity;  for  this  is  the  Time  of 
the  Lord's  vengeance;  he  will  render  unto  her  a  recompense 
....Babylon  is  suddenly  fallen  and  destroyed;  for  her 
judgment  reacheth  unto  heaven,  and  is  lifted  up  even  to  the 
skies.  The  Lord  hath  raised  up  the  spi7'it  of  the  Medes;  for 
His  device  is  against  Babylon,  to  destroy  it;  because  it  is 
the  vengeance  of  Ilis  temple.  Set  up  the  standard  upon  the 
wall  of  Babylon,  make  the  watch  strong,  set  up  tiic  watch- 
men, prepare  the  ambushes;  for  the  Lord  hath  both  devised 
and  DONE  that  which  he  spake  against  the  inhabitants  of 
Babylon,  0  thou  that  dwellest  upon  many  waters,  abundant 
in  treasures,  thine  end  is  come."  So  that  as  Cyrus,  the 
Persian,  (vvliom  the  Lord  called  by  name,  ''for  Jacob  his  ser- 
vant's sake,  and  Israel  his  elect,")  suddenly  diverted  the  course 
*Jer.  li.  G,  8,  11— 18. 


344  APPENDIX. 

of  the  River  Euphrates,  even  in  one  night,  and  marched  his 
troops  through  the  dry  bed  of  the  river  into  the  city  of  Baby- 
lon, and  took  possession  of  it;  so  did  Darius  the  Median 
take  away  the  gates,  and  pull  down  the  broad  walls  of  Great 
Babylon,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord  by  Jeremiah  the 
Prophet,  saying,*  "The  broad  walls  of  Babylon  shall  be  ut- 
terly broken,  and  her  high  gates  shall  be  burned  with  fire;" 
and  so  trul}^  was  this  prediction  fulfilled,  that  Babylon  was 
never  after  that  period  the  seat  of  supreme  goveriunent  under 
a  Babylonian  or  Chaldean  monarch.  And  when  Alexander 
the  Great,  who  was  not  a  Median  but  a  Macedonian  monarch, 
purposed  to  restore  the  city  of  Babylon  to  its  pristine  state  of 
grandeur  and  magnificence,  that  it  might  once  more  become 
the  seat  of  supreme  government,  he  died;  the  Lord  so  watching 
over  his  own  sacred  word  which  he  had  spoken  by  his  servant* 
Isaiah,  saying,t  "Come  down,  and  sit  in  the 'dust,  O  virgin 
daughter  of  Babylon,  sit  on  the  ground:  there  is  no  throne, 

0  daughter  of  the  Chaldea7is....Sh  thou  silent,  and  get  thee 
into  darkness,  O  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans;  for  thou  shalt 
no  more  be  called,  the  ladt  op  kingdoms."  As  the  Lord 
frustrated  the  attempts  of  Julian  the  Apostate  for  rebuilding 
the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  by  causing  balls  of  fire  to  come  up 
out  of  the  earth,  which  destroyed  the  workmen  and  their 
work;  so  the  Lord  frus,trated  by  death  Alexander's  attempts 
to  rebuild  Babylon.  And  as  of  the  former  building  it  was  said, 
"There  shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon  another,  which  shall 
not  be  thrown  down,"  and  of  the  latterj....  "They  shall  not 
take  a  stone  for  a  corner,  nor  a  stone  for  foundations;  but  thou 
shalt  be  desolate  for  ever;"  so  has  it  come  to  pass.  In  a 
word;  from  the  time  of  Cyrus  and  Darius  the  term  "Great," 
(which  the  title  of  "7%e  Lady  of  kingdoms''^  imports,)  could 
never  more  be  literally  applied  to  the  city  or  kingdom  of 
Babylon  of  the  Chaldees,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord 
— "Thou  shalt  no  more  be  called.  The  Lady  of  Kingdoms." 

1  am  aware  that  the  kingdom  or  province  of  Babylonia,  under 
the  Selucidae,  was  continued  from  Alexander's  time  till  within 
about  Q^S  years  of  the  Christian  era,  after  which  it  became  a 
Roman  province:  but  Strabo  and  Pliny  both  concur  in  testi- 
fying that  Babylon,  in  their  time,  was  only  a  ^^grcat  desert,'" 
and  a  '^desolale  wilderness,''  and  the  latter  historian  lived  about 
the  time  of  St.  Peter,  The  name  of  Babylon  in  1  Peter  v,  13, 
seems  to  me  to  be  incoherently  placed,  because  the  words, 
"Church  that  is,"  are  in  Italics;  but  as  the  name  of  Babylon  is 
there  found,  some  local  meaning  must  be  assigned  to  it.  St. 
John  wrote  his  Revelation  "in  tlic  isle  that  is  called  Patmos," 
and  has  only  mentioned  the  name  of  the  island,  and  not  any 

*  Jcr.  li.  58 .  +  Isaiah  xlvii.  1,  5.  t  Jeremiah  li.  26. 


APPENDIX.  345 

particular  torcn  therein,  it  being  properly  a  barren  island,  or 
without  a  town  of  note,  and  it  is  possible  that,  from  the  desert, 
desolate,  and  u-ilderness-slale  of  Babijlon  in  St.  Peter's  time,  the 
Apostle  miglit,  in  his  travels  through  (he  province,  merely  append 
the  name  of  Babylon  to  his  first  epistle,  in  order  to  identify 
the  part  of  llie  rvorld  in  ichicJi  he  then  xdus  with  certain  believers 
of  his  company,  fellow-labourers  and  fellow-travellers;  the 
name  of  Babylon  being  put  for  the  whole  province,  to  wit, 
Babylonia,  which  would  comprehend  the  ruins  of  the  old  city 
if  that  were  necessary.  And  as  Peter's  1st  epistle  is  addressed, 
not  to  any  particular  church  or  city  or  country,  but  in  general 
terms  ^'to  the  strangers  scattered  ihroughotit^'  the  countries  of 
"Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia;"  so  he 
might  possibly  use  the  name  Babylon,  (or  Babylonia)  in  the 
same  genera/  sen.se  in  which  he  addressed  the  united  brethren 
that  were  resident  in  those  countries  which  he  had  specified, 
as  well  as  *'/«  the  ivorld.^'  But  after  all,  I  have  no  objection 
to  Peter's  1st  Epistle  being  siihscrihed  from  the  literal  Baby- 
lon, or  from  Babylon  on  the  Delta,  or  from  Sclucia,  the  modern 
Babylon,  or  from  the  country  or  province  called  Babylonia: 
though  in  a  mystical  or  spiritual  sense  I  could  hardly  admit 
that  Rome  was  meant  by  IBabylon;  for  Irenseus  and  Eusebius 
have  both  informed  us  that  Linus,  Anaclet  and  Clement  were, 
in  succession  the  three  first  bishops  of  Rome,  which  would 
exclude  both  Peter  and  Paul  from  such  episcopal  ofBce  in 
Rome.  I  think  it  wisely  ordered  that  we  should  know  much 
less  about  Peter's  pretended  patrimony,  seat,  chair,  &c.  than 
any  other  of  the  Apostles,  because  of  the  idolatry  of  Papal 
Romanists,  and  tiiat  they  glor)^  so  much  in  Rome  as  the  resi- 
dence of  Peter,  whom  they  have  denominated  the  prince  of 
the  Apostles,  For  my  own  part  I  do  not  admire  the  subscrip- 
tion of  St.  Peter  to  his  first  Epistle,  though  it  may  be  quite 
correct:  there  is  to  me  an  ambiguity  aloout  it;  but  as  I  do  not 
wish  to  plunge  into  deep  waters,  which  seem  to  me  unfathom- 
able, I  must  leave  the  subject  as  I  found  it.  Yet  if  you  want 
authorities  for  the  plausibility  of  sueh  an  argument  as  that 
^^Peter  ivas  at  Rome''''  when  he  subscribed  his  1st  Epistle, 
you  may  see  some  small  ground  for  it  in  Dr.  Adam  Clarke's 
quotations  in  his  Commentary  on  the  1st  Epistle  of  Peter  v. 
13,  and  also  in  his  Preface  to  that  Epistle,  (not  that  the  Doctor 
himself  favours  the  opinion,)  in  which  is  exhibited  the  four 
leading  opinions  of  the  learned  concerning  the  supposed  situa- 
tion of  the  Babylon  mentioned  by  Peter;  but  perhaps  you 
have  already  seen  it. — Cave  (as  quoted  by  Dr.  Clarke)  in  his 
life  of  St.*  Peter,  says,  that  Jerome  concludes  his  article 
of  St.  Peter,  saying,  '■'■He  reus  buried  at  Rome,  in  the  Vati- 
carij  near  the  triumphal  way;  and  is  in  veneration  all  over 


346  APPENDIX. 

the  worldf  but  I  believe  this  is  a  traditional  account,  and 
the  best  and  only  one  which  Romanists  possess.  I  have  no 
objection  to  the  tradition  that  Peter  suffered  martyrdom  at 
Rome;  but  early  history  is,  I  believe,  very  silent  upon  the 
subject  of  Peter^s  apostolical  viinistratioiis  at  Ro7ne:  how- 
ever, I  have  nothing  better  to  tell  you  now." 

Since  the  receipt  of  the  above  I  have  met  with  the  following 
very  important  admission  contained  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Bishop  Walmsley's  exposition  of  the  Apocalypse,  published 
under  the  name  of  Sig.  Pastorini: — 

"This  same  ]Voman  is  further  said  to  carry  on  her  forehead 
the  following  inscription:  A  mystery:  Babylon  the  great,  the 
mother  of  the  fornications,  arid  the  abominations  of  the  earth.  V.  5. 
Here  is  a  mysterij,  or  an  enigma  to  be  unravelled,  viz.  Babylon 
the  great,  the  fornicatio?is,  and  the  abominations  of  the  earth. 
The  reader,  we  apprehend,  is  already  prepared  in  great  mea- 
sure for  the  solving  of  this  enigma.  Babylon  the  great,  is  the 
great  imperial  city  of  Pagan  Rome.  And  she  is  the  Woman, 
as  we  have  just  shewn,  who  is  the  mother  of  the  fornications  and 
abominations  of  the  earth.  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  pro- 
posed mystery.  But  to  make  it  more  clear,  that  by  Babylon  the 
great  is  here  meant  idolatrous  Rome,  we  appeal  to  the  angePs 
words:  The  rcoman  which  thou  sazoest  is  the  great  city  ivhich  hath 
kingdom  over  the  kings  of  the  earth,  (v.  18)  which,  as  we  have 
before  observed,  plainly  points  out  the  great  ancient  city  of 
Rome,  that  domineered  over  the  greatest  part  of  the  kingdoms 
of  the  then  known  world.  The  woman  therefore  is  the  image 
of  that  city,  and  in  the  inscription  on  her  forehead  she  is  styled 
Babylon  the  great:  consequently  Babylon  the  great  is  here  the 
same  with  the  city  of  Rome.  In  the  primitive  ages  this  figu- 
rative name  of  Babylon  was  frequently  given  to  heathen  Rome 
by  the  Christians,  on  account  of  the  resemblance  of  the  charac- 
ters of  those  two  cities,  for  their  idolatry  and  for  their  op- 
pressing— one  the  Jews;  the  other  the  Christians.  St.  Peter 
dates  his  first  letter  from  Babylon  (1  Pet.  v.  13,)  that  is,  from 
Rome,  as  St.  Jerome  and  Eusebius  tell  us.  "The  appellation 
of  Babylon  (said  Tertullian)  is  used  by  St.  John  for  the  city  of 
Rome,  because  she  resembles  ancient  Babylon,  in  the  extent 
of  her  walls;  in  her  haughtiness;  on  account  of  her  dominion; 
and  in  persecuting  the  saints,"  (lib.  adv.  Jud.)  St.  Austin 
also  says,  "Rome  is  a  second  Babylon,  and  a  daughter  of  the 
ancient  Babylon,"  (de  Civ.  lib.  xxii.  c.  IS.)  Babylon  the  great 
is  therefore  sufficiently  distinguished."     P.  127. 

II. 

On  the  supposed  existence  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  Mr.  Wolff's 
mention  of  the  black  and  white  Jews  of  Cochin,  (p.  195),  from 


APPENDIX.  347 

not  beinj;  sufficiently  explicit,  is  calculated  to  lead  to  erroneous 
conclusions.  He  merel}^  gives  the  traditions  of  these  two 
classes  of  Jews,  as  mentioned  by  themselves.  The  white 
Jews  do  not  claim  to  have  come  into  India  earlier  than  soon 
after  the  destruction  of  the  second  temple,  or  about  the  year  68 
of  the  Christian  era.  They  say  the  black  Jews  are  merely 
converts  to  Judaism  from  among  the  Hindoos;  which  Mr. 
Wolff  tiiinks  probable,  as  converts  are  now  frequent,  and  the 
features  and  manners  of  the  black  Jews  are  Hindoo.  They 
are  little  better  than  slaves  to  the  white  Jews.  The  black 
Jews,  however,  say  for  themselves,  that  they  became  converts 
in  the  time  of  Estlier,  JNIordecai  and  Ahasuerus;  and  that  they 
were  already  in  India  as  Jezcs,  when  the  white  Jews  came. 
The  white  Jews  deny  this.     Journal  473 — 748. 

As  regards  the  Jews  supposed  to  be  in  China,  (p.  273),  the 
following  extract  from  a  Christian  missionary  in  that  country, 
inserted  in  the  Record  of  July  4,  1836,  relates  to  them: — 

"There  is  also  a  colony  of  Jews  in  China,  at  Kae-foong-foo, 
of  whom  Mr.  Davis,  in  his  work  on  the  Ciiinese,  gives  some 
interesting  particulars.  They  are  said  to  have  readied  China 
as  early  as  200  years  before  Christ:  the  Chinese  call  them  'the 
sect  that  plucks  out  the  sinew.'  There  is  a  place  reserved  in 
their  synagogue  for  its  chief,  who  never  enters  there  except 
with  profound  respect.  They  say  that  their  ancestors  came 
from  a  kingdom  of  the  west,  called  the  kingdom  of  Juda, 
which  Joshua  conquered  after  having  departed  from  Egypt 
and  passed  the  Red  Sea  and  the  wilderness:  that  the  number 
of  Jews  who  migrated  from  Egypt  was  about  600,000  men. 
They  say  their  alphabet  has  twenty-seven  letters,  but  they 
commonly  make  use  of  only  twenty-two,  which  accords  with 
the  declaration  of  St.  Jerome,  that  the  Hebrew  has  twenty-two 
letters,  of  which  five  are  double.  When  they  read  the  Bible 
in  their  synagogue  they  cover  their  facc-with  a  transparent  veil, 
in  memory  of  Moses,  who  descended  from  the  mountain  with 
his  face  covered,  and  who  thus  pui)lishcd  the  Decalogue  and 
the  lavv  of  God  to  his  people.  They  read  a  section  every  sab- 
bath day.  Thus  the  Jews  of  China,  like  the  Jews  of  Europe, 
read  all  the  law  in  the  course  of  the  year." 

The  following  is  Mr.  Cuninghame's  opinion,  published  in 
his  recent  work  on  "The  Fulness  of  the  'i'imes,"  Pref.  p.  xxii. 

"We  have  lately  seen  in  the  public  ]iapcrs,  frequent  mention 
of  the  Tribes  of  Caucasus,  who  have  issued  a  declaration  of  in- 
dependence, addressed  to  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  and  are  at 
war  with  Russia,  and  are  reported  to  have  repeatedly  beaten 
her  armies.^  They  in  that  document  describe  themselves  as 
being  yo</r  millions  in  number,  divided  into  "many  tribes,  lan- 
guages and  creeds,  with  various  customs,  traditions  and  creeds." 


348  APPENDIX. 

"The  chief  chosen  by  each  body  during  war  is  implicitly 
obeyed,  and  our  princes  and  our  elders  govern  according  to 
the  custom  of  each  place  with  greater  authority  than  in  the 
great  states  around  us."  Now  it  appears  to  me  probable,  that 
Ephraim  and  a  portion  of  the  Ten  Tribes  may  be  found  among 
this  people.  That  Ephraim  is  in  some  country  north  of  Judea, 
and  a  country  of  mountains,  appears  to  be  certain  from  the 
language  of  Jeremiah,  Go  and  proclaim  these  words  towards  the 
7iorth,  and  say,  Return  thou  backsliding  Israel; — they  shall  come 
together  out  of  the  land  of  the  north. — Behold  I  ziill  bring  them 
from  the  north  country.  Jer.  iii.  12,  IS;  xxxi.  S.  It  is  also 
said,  For  there  shall  be  a.  day  that  the  icatchman  upon  the  mount 
Ephraim  shall  cry,  Arise  ije,  let  us  go  up  to  Zion,  to  the  Lord  our 
God.  The  land  of  the  north  is  a  description  exactly  suiting  to 
the  countries  between  the  Euxine  and  the  Caspian,  which  are 
nearly  due  north  of  Judea,  but  by  no  means  the  regions  to  the 
east  of  the  Caspian.  Moreover,  I  am  led  to  expect  that,  in  this 
text,  mount  Ephraim  does  not  mean  the  mountain  of  that  name 
in  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  was  given  to  Ephraim,  but  some 
mountainous  country  where  Ephraim  now  dwells;  for  imme- 
diately after  these  words  the  prophet  proceeds  to  predict  their 
return  into  the  land  of  their  fathers.  The  region  of  Caucasus 
is  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  ancient  Colchis  or  Colchos  of 
the  Greeks,  which  seems  to  be  the  n'^n,  properly  Culach,  of  2 
Kings  xvii.  G.  and  i^^n'  Chabor  is  perhaps  the  Iberia  of  the 
Greeks  which  adjoined  Colchos.  The  river  Gozan  may  be 
the  Phasis  which  traverses  Colchos.  In  some  of  the  modern 
maps  it  bears  the  name  of  the  Fasz  or  Kioni.  It  is  rather  more 
than  a  year  since  I  iirst  communicated  these  ideas  to  some  of 
my  friends,  and  since  that  time  the  Circassian  tribes  have  been 
rising  in  importance  in  the  public  mind,  and  have  been  repeat- 
edly mentioned  in  parliament.  I  shall  just  add,  that  what  is 
now  stated  is  offered  simply  as  a  conjecture,  in  order  to  direct 
the  attention  of  tiiose  who  are  observing  the  signs  of  the  times 
to  that  quarter.  From  what  is  said  in  the  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence of  the  Circassians,  they  appear  to  be  Mahomedans; 
but  as  they  also  admit  that  they  arc  divided  into  many  tribes, 
languages  and  creeds,  some  among  them  may,  as  it  is  said  of 
Ephraim,  be  joined  to  their  idols.  The  account  given  of 
these  tril)cs  in  the  Encyclopaedia  is,  that  they  are  Pagans,  but 
use  circumcision.  I  shall  further  observe,  that  it  is  apparent 
from  Deut.  xxxiii.  17,  that  the  military  prowess  of  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh  is  to  act  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  events  of  the  last 
times;  and  if  there  be  any  truth  in  the  conjecture  now  offered, 
I  have  no  doubt  but  events  will  soon  speak  with  an  unequivo- 
cal voice." 


^ 


